Red: Healing

I love to attribute different colors to God’s character. Why not also attribute color for his actions?

Thin of the action of healing? Could it be green, like new life? I’m sure when Namaan’s leprous skin was healed, a sense of new life was full on his mind! His skin “became as healthy as the skin of a young child” (2 Kings 5:14 NLT). Or perhaps healing is purple, like the royalty of the kingdom of God. Healings do announce God’s kingdom here in our midst. But maybe healing is golden; that honey-gold hue that reminds us of the goodness of God. If anything, healings must at least be blue since the glory of God is seen and known in the unforgettable moment!

And then there is Red.

Blood red that makes us think sacrifice, deliverance, redemption, salvation; of the broken body of Christ; of the Lamb of God pouring out his blood for all humanity.

Have we realized how much healings are soaked in red?

When our mind is broken with depression and anxiety, we can remember the sound of the soldier’s whip on Jesus’ body. Through this affliction he made peace. Peace for us.  

When betrayal is the food we eat and our heart cannot imagine trusting again, remember how Jesus’ eyes were blurred by blood pouring from the thorns pressed into his head. Inspite of the mocking betrayal of others, he made a humble offering. An offering for us.  

When our souls are suffocating under dark thoughts of suicide and self-hatred, remember Jesus used the support of the nails to raised himself up for another breath. While suffered suffocation’s symptoms, he suffocated the power of darkness. His brought victory. A victory for us.  

The other “colors” are beautiful to associate with healing and easily encourage others: the new life of God, the Kingdom of God, the Goodness of God, and the Glory of God.  

But healings are also soaked in red — staining our lives with the sacrifice, affliction, and suffering of one so precious and silent before his oppressors.

When we ask for healing, may we remember what it cost.