Wellness Wednesday – “Rejoicing & Wellness In A Year Of Jubilee”
For this Wellness Wednesday, we mark a special year here in the Southeastern District. In convention, the SED declared this to be a year of Jubilee, celebrating our 85th anniversary as a district in the LCMS. This unique celebration harkens our minds and hearts to the Biblical celebration called for in ancient Israel as described in Leviticus 25, the year of Jubilee. This special celebration that took place every 50 years was an economic, cultural, communal, and spiritual reset for God’s people. This “super sabbath” was a declaration of liberty and restoration in which God’s people would rejoice and experience renewed rest in the Lord’s divine favor.
So, what does the idea of Jubilee and rejoicing have to do with our wellness? Firstly, as the year of Jubilee was a reset for God’s people, Israel, I would encourage you to see this special celebration here in the SED as a reset for your own spiritual, emotional, physical, vocational, financial, intellectual, and relational wellness. Whatever was in the past, this day, give it all to the Lord and see yourself as the new creation in Christ that you are; the old is gone, and behold, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17) Live today as the new creation of Christ that you are because of God’s promises made to you in your baptism.
Next, rejoice! Often in life, we work from a deficiency mindset regarding our wellness. We often focus on what’s wrong, what’s broken, what’s missing, and then seek solutions to find ways to fix it. While we can see some improvement in our lives in terms of our wellness from this approach, this change is often momentary. However, long-lasting, transformational change doesn’t work that way. What affects positive, proactive change and transformation is working from an abundance mindset in which we see the good, the positive, and the blessings in our lives, and then from this source of strength, we seek to live differently.
This positive, strengths-based approach to wellness is backed up by recent studies in neuroscience that show that focusing on problems limits our problem-solving ability, while focusing first on what’s right opens up our creativity, allowing us to see possibilities and new solutions. It’s not that we ignore what’s wrong; instead, by focusing on what’s right, we tap into a wealth of energy and strength to address what may not be working in our lives. There is a truth in the saying, “What we focus on more and more becomes our reality.”
You might be asking yourself, “How might this idea apply to, say, our spiritual wellness?” Hear these words of the Apostle Paul not only to God’s people at the church in Ephesus but also to you today – “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph 1:18-19) Yes, you are a sinner, but through faith in Jesus, you are also a saint. Yes, you may be spiritually poor, yet in Christ, God’s riches are now yours. Yes, you may feel hopeless and weak; however, because of Jesus, you now have hope and a supernatural power from Him. May God open all our spiritual eyes to see that all these promises are now ours in Christ. Seeing God in our reality reminds us of what’s right and positive in our realities, our lives, and the world around us.
Third, now start living into these promises in Christ and with them all the good, the positive, and the blessings we now rejoice in. A great way to do this, in our spiritual wellness as well as all the other aspects of wellness, is a transformational process developed by Dallas Willard known as “VIM,” which stands for Vision, Intentionality, and Means. First, rejoice in the vision of who you are now through faith in Jesus, which will be fully realized one day in the new creation. Next, what are the means available to you, both internally as gifts from God and externally given as blessings in your life, that can help you grow in this vision of your ideal “new creation” self? Spiritually, begin with the Means of Grace through which God works to infuse us with faith and transform us in Christlikeness. Lastly, you must intentionally make use of these means to affect that pro-active and transformative change. As you do, remember that the encouragement, support, and good “gospel” accountability from others will be a crucial differentiator to your success in improving your overall wellness.
As we begin this year of Jubilee here in the SED, and with it a renewed focus on improving our overall wellness, let us rejoice together for all the good and blessings that come from the hand of God our Father. May we encourage one another to see the positives we can celebrate in our lives that can encourage us and strengthen us to face our wellness challenges. And finally, may we remember that our ultimate “super sabbath” rest is found in none other than Jesus Himself, as He fulfilled the ultimate promise of the year of Jubilee to us all with these words He read from the prophet Isaiah found in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Rejoice and be glad, for this is the year of Jubilee, Amen!
