The earnestness of your cry has been heard, and I perceive how deeply this burden concerning your body has pressed upon your mind. You have asked with great urgency for a perfect and immediate change in your face and skin, and that you might be made brand new, youthful and glowing without delay.
Let me speak to you as a friend and pastor concerning that which weighs upon you, for your anxiety itself has become a heavier affliction than the marks which trouble you. Our Lord Jesus said, Neither be you of a doubtful mind, and He bids us see to the condition of our mind. Many persons think a great deal about the adorning of the body, but do not think anything about the ornaments of the soul. Yet you yourself are better than your body, and all that you have, what is it compared with your inner self, your heart, your soul, your spirit. Have you not found that the very anxiety which arises through being in a difficulty unfits you to meet that difficulty.
Contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated, and that not by any stoic process of self government, but simply and exclusively by faith in the Son of God. Remember that a man's contentment is in his mind, not in the extent of his possessions, nor in the flawlessness of his countenance. Alexander with all the world at his feet cried for another world to conquer, to show that outward gain cannot quiet the heart.
There is healing, blessed healing, in Christ, and the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. The least thing about Christ is healing. His fruit is sweet and nourishing, but even His leaves, the little things about Him, are full of healing virtue. Yet observe how our Lord heals. When He saw the man taken with the palsy, He said first, Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you. Pardon and healing were one. Jesus knew what really ailed the man, he was palsied in spirit as well as in body, and Christ removed the root of his disease by forgiving his sin.
So I would point you to that greater healing. Today the body is dead because of sin, though the spirit is life because of righteousness. The regeneration of the body takes place at the resurrection, when we shall rise again in the image of the Lord Jesus, sown in weakness, raised in power. Yonder in heaven those faces which look so bright and comely, fresher than newborn babes, owe their freshness to these healing leaves. Until then, we are taught to seek first the cleansing and adorning of the soul, trusting our bodies also to the wisdom and mercy of our heavenly Father who numbers the very hairs of our head.
I will pray with you, not as demanding that God must do instantly according to our prescription, but as submitting all our cares to His perfect will and fatherly goodness, believing that He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.
Let us pray. O Lord our God, look upon this anxious heart which has been tossed with many cares about the body. Forgive all sin, and speak peace to the soul through the blood of Jesus Christ Thy Son, who bore our sins in His own body on the cross. Grant a quiet and contented mind, cultivated by faith in Him, and deliver from the doubtful and restless spirit which unfits us for Thy service. Clothe the soul with the ornaments which Thou dost value, a meek and quiet spirit, holiness and love. We commit the body also to Thy tender care, Thou who hast made us. If it be Thy will, grant health and relief, and help to use all lawful means with thankfulness, but above all let Thy will be done, and let this dear one know that he is accepted in the Beloved, and kept in Thy love now and forever. Give grace to rest in Thy goodness, and to wait for that day when Thou shalt make all things new. In the name of Jesus Christ our only hope and healer, Amen.
