Tuesday 13 April 2021

Thought for the Day 13/04/21 - Doctor-denialism

 AUDIO


My Mamgu didn't like to call the doctor.

I've got strong childhood memories of my Mam trying to persuade her when something or other 'needed looking at'.

But my Mamgu and my Hen-Mamgu (who was with us to the grand old age of 94) had grown up before the National Health Service, and the cost of what they called 'troubling the Doctor' had been a constant concern in their mining valleys home.

In all these homes there was a pot on the mantle piece above the fire (strange place to keep it) that held money put aside to pay the doctor when it was really needed.

And that habit of not 'troubling the Doctor' was clearly deep, because it was one they allows found quite hard to get rid of.

I've seen the same thing in other parts of the world where health care is a cost that very plainly, the folks living in those places can't always bear.

After a health crisis was resolved for me in hospital a while ago ... and saved my life ... I did a bit of research to find out what my treatment would have cost if I had needed it in a range of U.S. states. 

It was sobering to realise they'd have let me die for lack of funds for what here is a standard medical procedure.

For those of us who've always had the NHS this seems very unusual, and it can lead us to treat our health service in ways we really shouldn't, if we're not careful.

The Universal Leveller of poor personal health

Now this is an issue that affects every single one of us, because we all need to see the doctor  from time to time.

But aren't there are always annoying people who deny their need?! The mistake Jesus was dealing with was to deny this fact. 

Certainly farmers I know are amongst the worst for never going to the doctor ... and medics I know stress that if a farmer turns up in Accident and Emergency they know they need to sit up and pay attention ... because if a farmer just walked in, it's probably a lot more serious than it looks! 

And they also need to seize the chance to check 'em out for anything else they can while they've got him with them! (I say 'him' because farming women are tough but they tend to be a lot more sensible about their health).

But this universal issue of poor health all goes to make the point on  what the Lord says in the Verse for the Day today ... and it's really surprising:

"Jesus answered them, 

‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, 

but those who are ill. 

I have not come to call the righteous, 

but sinners to repentance.’"

                                    Luke 5:31-32




Jesus seems to be saying there are people who claim they never need to see the doctor and people never need to repent of any bad stuff they have done ... but actually He's saying that just as the first of those ideas isn't true, the second one most certainly isn't either.


The internet age and the birth of the New Pharisaism

Now the internet age has definitely given rise to a new self-righteousness. The internet age has been accompanied by the rise of a New Pharisaism.

The sins of others are put under the spotlight more intensely and published to our social media timelines every day.

And alongside that, the vilification of public people - and others too - for views they hold that are different from ours and the 'calling out' of them for their views as 'evil' ... is the central plank of the current 'woke' agenda. 

Sadly law makers seem susceptible to responding to this sort of pressure and painting right as wrong in what looks like craven acquiescence.

It's getting a bit ridiculous now, in fact. 

I read only yesterday of a campaign to legalise paedoplilia, arguing its case on the basis of children's human rights! (Check this link HERE). 

And, would you believe it? The proponents of this move were attacking and villifying the 'evil' of opposing their plan!

But let's not digress - Jesus is saying we ALL need the soul doctor.

The universal leveller: needing the Soul Doctor

When Jesus spoke out on the issue of calling not the healthy but the sick ... the soul sick ... to repentance, He was highlighting His role as the Saviour. 

He's the One Who came to save the people (meaning all His people) from their sins ... as the famous 'Christmas verse' in Matthew 1:21 made clear: 

"She will give birth to a son," the angel told Joseph 

"and you are to give him the name Jesus" {meaning 'God saves'}, 

"because he will save his people from their sins.’"

Do you see? 

The very Name Jesus was given from before His physical birth to indicate that He was the One to save His people from their sins.

So that was His purpose ... to save

 The mistake Jesus was dealing with was to deny this fact and alleging you're not a sinner means that He has nothing to do with you.


The Point

The thing is - and this is the point He makes in our verse today, everyone DOES need the Doctor, and He is the One that has come.

We need to change our stance, repent and get to His surgery.

As Paul spells it out later:

"all have sinned and 

fall short of the glory of God, 

and all are justified freely by his grace 

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

                                                       Romans 3:23-24


The Takeaway

Believer or not, we need to live with this ... especially in this age of the New Pharisaism ... the Lord's message to the old Pharisaism of His own day still applies.

All of us stand in need of the Doctor because each one of us gets spiritually ill, and that spiritual illness comes from no other cause than from falling for the decitfulness of sin .... the deceitfulness that tells us things like this:

  • this isn't bad 
  • everyone's doing it 
  • this is your right 
  • you SHOULD seize your freedom, and that 
  • I (but not everyone else) can rebel against God's will and sin without consequence.

It's the same old tripe the Enemy of Souls peddled to the first human sinners who bought it hook, line and sinker and lost Eden.

It is a Christ-avoiding  blunder

 to claim that we almost alone amongst humanity are different from 'the rest' or at least to live our lives as if this tripe were true.

This is the mistake Jesus was dealing with when He spoke about not coming for those who (say they) don't need the doctor. 

Christians of all people should know better than to try to project that image of themselves, because Jesus says that we don't need Him if we live like THAT is true.

So let's be sure today we live with SOME integrity? 

The integrity that acknowledges our need of the Great Physician, and as if we need to acknowledge and give Him access to treat our ailment every day?

If we can talk some more to help you think this through and work it out, then please feel free to use the contact form below.


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