Category: Blog

You remember the old saying: ‘You scratch my back, I’ll stab yours’. Well of course that is not really the way it goes, but truthfully that is how it plays out so many times in my life.

Every time I deny the dignity and humanity of someone, I am living beneath my calling and mandate to treat and serve others as I would treat the Lord Jesus Himself.

I am certain that many of the very people Jesus served were in the crowd yelling for Him to be crucified. Some of the same people who said they loved Him, left Him so they could fit in with the crowd. Judas, took it to another level when he became the world’s best-known back stabber by betraying the Lord.

But to not be too hard on Judas and others, I do this daily whenever I ignore the different, disheveled, downhearted and disdained. I back stab Jesus when I gossip, ridicule, or in other ways speak ill of someone just for the sake of gaining the approval and confidence of my colleagues and friends. Jesus lifts me up out of my slump and I return the favor and grace by ignoring the downtrodden.

You scratch my back, I will stab yours. Jesus anticipated as much as He stated in Matthew 25: 42-45
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Don’t stab Him in the back. Scratch His back, every time you see Him.

It took her over 15 minutes to register. She did not have the correct insurance information and when she finally did discover her cards at the bottom of her purse, it showed that her coverage had lapsed. She cried and called her sister who had the same coverage and was able to update the data and complete the process. Then she waited some more. She waited in line for over another 15 minutes and then in the examination room for another 30 minutes.

She was scared, frustrated and at this point even a little angry. Had she been forgotten in the midst of all the busyness of the clinic? Was she being overlooked in the shuffle of the moving people from exam room to laboratory and x-ray? She didn’t just want healing. She wanted wholeness. She wanted more than the right diagnosis, right therapy and correct drug. Yes, she wanted healing. But just as important, she wanted wholeness. She wanted to be cured.

I have been trained in the art of healing. I have been called to the ministry of wholeness. Both are required to cure. There is a distinct difference. Yes, we can correct the lab findings, control and suppress the disease process. We can perform the right procedure at the right time and get the correct results. That is the art of healing. But curing requires more than that. It requires the fine art of healing, practiced with the ministry of making whole.

Jesus did it. He never just touched and healed. He always made whole. See the woman who touched his garments. She had spent 12 years of her life resources on finding the right doctor with the right medicines. She had wasted all of that only to be treated as an outcast. But then Jesus walked by. The waiting room was crowded. She was forgotten in the shuffle of the busyness of the Savior’s day. But she recognized that He could not only treat and heal, but He could cure. He could make whole.

Your patients come to you daily with the desire for healing. Don’t leave them without providing them the cure. Give the best medicine, the best surgery, the best therapy and never forget, give them Jesus. Give them wholeness.

Matthew 9:20-22

And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole that hour.

Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

When my fields are dry and barren
And my prayer for rain gets through
I think about my enemy and ask Lord
Bless his garden too

When my children are in trouble
And to help I have no clue
I think about my enemy and ask Lord
Bless his family too

When my health does fail and falter
The doctors don’t know what to do
I think about my enemy and ask Lord
Bless his body too

When I think I can ignore
Those I consider less value
I am not worthy of the God I claim
So please Lord, bless my enemy too

Matthew 25:44-48 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

I have truly mastered this
My art is superbly fine
Of the 10 most humble people
I trained the other 9

I am not inclined to boast
And really don’t mean to brag
But when you’ve done the most
Being quiet is a drag

Whenever I am speaking
I listen carefully to each word
I want to catch each saying
Of some wisdom I’ve not heard

You may find this absurd
Maybe even a little odd
I even once considered
That I should counsel God

Yes, humility is my strong point
Just ask the other 9
And if they don’t agree
It means their humility fades with time

Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 16:19 KJV

James 4:6 Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

You may think you’re doing me a favor by avoiding difficult topics. My behavior and my lack of scruples or integrity may seem off limits for you to talk about. But your reluctance to address these shortcomings in me, actually does me harm.

If you love me then kick me. Strike me hard. Make it painful. Don’t fool around with avoiding the fact that I am not living up to the calling and potential of my life. Whack me. Head butt if you must. Do something to prevent me and protect me from myself.

I need you to love me enough to hurt me. To do less is not friendship, but the enemy using you to help delude me. Don’t kiss me. Kick me. I need your honest rebuke, not your dishonest embrace.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 27:6 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.27.6.KJV

I take no gain
In my enemy’s pain
I take no joy when he cries
It comforts me not when my foe has ho peace
I do not wish his demise

I take no delight in his failure
It pleases me not if he falls
To do so is cruel and what’s even worse
I am called to mend wounds
Not to curse

Matthew 5:44-46 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

To quiet the bad voice, I smoke
It will be silenced I think
Just one big inhale, a good toke
I follow it with a stiff drink

To settle my mind, fill this glass
Just one more bottle, don’t spill
I promise this is my last
To make sure, I will swallow this pill

I only do this when out of sorts
When I am feeling alone and dejected
If I can’t swallow enough I just snort
And last of all, I can always inject it

The bad voice won’t go away
No matter what substance I use
Oh the horrible things it does say
To remind me my past and accuse

Such are the stories I am told
And there is no way of convincing
That the only way out of this hole
Is to put down the shovel, stop digging

I pray that the tortured souls
Will find the One healing voice
Holy Spirit overwhelm, take control
Help them make Jesus their choice

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

John 8:10-11 Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”

The difficult thing in medicine is to stay on message. The waiting room is full, I am late for rounds, my vacation is overdue as one of the doctors is out sick. My staff feels overwhelmed and the insurance is delaying payments because of coding errors.

None of this matters to the woman sitting in front of me holding her wheezing 4 year old granddaughter. She missed work today because the child’s mother is passed out on heroin, her father is in jail and no one else can provide care. It is a difficult situation because she doesn’t have the insurance information nor the consent to care.

I have complaints. She has problems. I must stay on message. The political, social, religious messages are not going to help. She needs to know that she is important. She is not alone. God loves her. He cares. I can show this by staying on message.

How can I help you today? We may not solve your problems, but we can help you find peace. Stay on message. It’s about Jesus. It always is about Jesus.

Now, let me hold the child and listen to her lungs. Oh yes. I hear the wheezes. Let me check with the pharmacy. Let me help.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord , and he shall sustain thee:
Psalms 55:22 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.55.22.KJV