Here’s a link to Acts 3.

None of us is 100% perfectly healthy. And even those of us who are very healthy will one day experience the breakdown of our physical bodies. It’s a frustrating, often discouraging reality. Indeed, the reality of death is one we will each face. No wonder prayer requests in church so often are about physical health.

Some people are unhealthy right from the start. Like the man born lame being carried into the Temple in our passage. He’d never experienced being able to walk, much less run. This affected his entire life, forcing him to become a beggar dependent on the charity of others.

Along come Peter and John. When asked by this man for money, they admitted they weren’t exactly flush with cash. But they had something even more valuable. And in the name of Jesus, they invited this man to stand on his own two feet for the first time ever.

And he not only stood up, he walked, leapt, and praised God for his restored limbs. Receiving strong legs not only meant he could walk; it meant he could have a life not otherwise possible. Thanks to Jesus, he was restored.

If only this happened in every single instance of disability and suffering. If only we could wake each day with the full and confident expectation that we would see the Lord restore yet more people to perfect health. If only all prayers for physical health were answered in the here and now.

In our passage, Peter speaks of the time of the restoration of all things. Which will be when Jesus returns and brings his work of salvation to its ultimate conclusion. It’s then that even our physical bodies will be transformed. In the new heavens and new earth, those there will be in perfect health forever.

And this is why Peter once again preaches about Jesus when he notices everyone staring at them after the lame man rises to his feet. It’s through him that we can have this hope. And any healing that he brings in this life is wonderful and is a precursor and promise to the ultimate and complete healing available in him.

In Jesus, perfect health is not only about our physical well-being. Jesus seeks to heal us emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. He seeks to make us whole. When we encounter him in faith, that process of restoration begins as a promise that will find its resolution upon his return and in the ushering in of his glorious kingdom.