Church is meant to be a hospital

By Daniel Francis

I recently spoke to two people in different stages of their spiritual journey. One individual I would describe as recently ‘saved’. They always believed in God, but they weren’t very habitual about the activities that built their faith until a recent pivotal moment when God spoke to them and, as we say, saved them and set them on the right path. Now they make it a habit to include God in everything.

The other person is still looking for God. They try their best to do what is right, but it’s still very much under their terms and not fully under God’s terms.

And then there was me, somewhere in between.

During this conversation, each person spoke about their daily experiences and how they allowed their faith to guide their thoughts and actions. From the different experiences, it was clear the varying degrees to which we each allowed God to guide our lives.

We could see the clear disparity between how much each of us allowed the wrongs of the world to anchor us to what was wrong, and in each we could see where we completely let go and let God take the lead unencumbered.

It was hard not to be defensive when hearing about how someone lived their life so heavily guided by Christ while you were, in truth, making excuses to continue to do the wrong thing.

A hard truth came out of that conversation that I believe we are all inherently aware of. Although we are imperfect because we sin, God does call us to be the best versions of ourselves, guided by Him.

To follow the path He has set out for us and to receive His full blessing, we must do all that we can to live a good life through Christ.

The hard truth is that when we falter, when we sin, or when we hang on to these things that are not of Christ, we are making an excuse for doing the wrong thing. We rationalise that it is just who we are, it’s what we’ve always done, it is all we can muster at this stage in our journey, etc.

We sometimes even say that God will understand because I am not strong enough yet to do all that He wants me to do, or live fully in the way I know I should. But in truth, we are simply making excuses to hang on to the wrong things.

It is hard to submit to faith fully. It means giving up some aspects of your life that you have grown accustomed to, even if it is the wrong thing. We are so accustomed to these parts of ourselves that we can’t imagine letting them go, even if we know they are detrimental or they are wrong.

I think this is a Christian paradox that can only be fixed by the realisation that the Church is like a hospital. We must understand that we are all metaphorically sick to some degree, and we can be healed by understanding the function and effect that being more intentional in our spiritual life can have.

Finding God, community, meaning, and healing through the Church, the Bible, prayer, fostering a relationship with God, etc. all help heal us.

I do believe we must all follow along our paths at our own pace. It’s not a journey that should be compared to anyone else’s. Through deep self-reflection and prayer, we can start seeing a clear picture of what God wants for us. It just takes letting go of what is anchoring us to the wrong things.

So, no matter where you are in your journey, find healing and come closer and closer to God by being present at church, praying, reading your Bible, and all the other activities that deepen your faith. The more you invest in your spiritual life, the easier it will be to heal and grow closer to God.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

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