Reality Contact: “How are you, REALLY?”

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16)

Years ago when I lunched with a friend on Mondays, I’d always ask him, “How are you, Skip?”

“Great, wonderful, marvelous and tremendous!” he’d always answer. 

On many Mondays I’d not had a good weekend, and life was not great, wonderful, marvelous, and tremendous for me. But this guy was always emphatically optimistic. After this pattern continued for some time, one Monday I asked him, “Tell me something. If everything wasn’t great, wonderful, marvelous, and tremendous, how would you answer my question?”

“Oh, I’d probably lie to you,” he responded.

I then decided to rephrase my question. I asked, “How are you, really, Skip?” He worked with a group who memorized a verse of Scripture every week. “Frankly, if you really want to know,” he said, “My verse of the week is, ‘Hang it on your beak, freak!’” We then had some honest conversation, what I call Reality Contact.

What James had in mind is that if we are honest with each other we will be burdened to pray for each other. Then as a result of our mutual prayers for one another we will be healed. If we are not honest when we meet together, we will not pray for each other and the mutual healing will not happen. One translation reads that our honest prayers will explode with power!

We are missing something important if we do not have “Reality Contact” with a believer we trust. Do you have that kind of relationship with anyone?

Dick Woodward, 01 November 2011

One Response to Reality Contact: “How are you, REALLY?”

  1. Jenifer Alison says:

    What a beautiful sentiment.

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