was extremely careful in giving me my physicial examination. He never missed a thing. That same care showed as he conversed about the needs of the soul. As busy as he was he always had time to help meet the spiritual needs. His head and heart were just as sensitive to the “big ache” of the spirit as to the “ little afche” of the body. Although' this doctor is the busy Professor of Clinical Medicine at Mayo Clinic, he never gave you the uneasy feeling that he didn’t have time for you. The reason he has time for man is that he has time for God. He tries to set aside some time each day for Bible study and prayer. When the press of work crowds out that time he says, “ I find that my personal life suffers.” It is the doctor’s love for the Word
It takes courage to care. It requires putting aside your own problems and needs and being concerned and com passionate for the needs of others. In our Lord’s story in Luke 10, He tells of the man who was robbed, beaten and left dying at the road side. A priest and a Levite go by. They are men dedicated to the cause of God. They came, they saw, and they passed by . . . those verbs eloquently reveal that they didn’t care. It was the de spised Samaritan who cared. He cared enough to act and care saved the life of the dying Jew. How much do you care? Have you ever pointed a dying soul to the source of life? The great Nehemiah, Prime Minister of the Persian Kingdom, cared — that cost him the feeding of 150 people for 12 months. Few of us are Nehemiahs but all can care. The little boy with the five loaves and two fishes also cared. He didn’t have what Nehemiah had, but what he had he gave. This made the differ ence between a multitude of people being fed or going hungry. The dis ciples tried to make out that the problem was the tremendous discrep ancy between demand and supply. Actually, this was not the case. It was that they did not care enough to let it cost them anything. They had not learned that spirituality and liberality are Siamese twins. Because Christ cared He lived and that life was for others. When He saw a need how quickly He acted — how superabundantly He gave of Himself. Because Christ cared He also died . . . died “not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). You and I pass through this world but once. It is good to ask the ques tion, “What am I living for?” It is startling, but realistic, to ask, “What am I dying for?” Is it for self? Then note the warning, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” When death puts its kiss upon my lips, will those who miss me say, “He was a man who really cared?” When the Saviour greets me will He say, “Well done thou good and faith ful servant” (Matthew 25:21) be cause I was a man who cared? Henry Drummond wrote, “There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.” If you really care, that care will express itself in a concern filled with compassion which will cause you to serve others for Jesus’ sake. Be ft known that what you keep you lose and what you give you keep. For “ it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Give of yourself. Give of your wealth. That is living.
mankind, diagnose the disease and know the cure in no way proves that you really care. You can only prove it by bringing the sick to the Saviour. The more you care the more alive you will become. But before you read on let me warn you it is cheaper and safer not to care. David Livingstone was a man who cared, but it cost him everything. He said, “ I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relationship to the extension of the Kingdom of Christ.” The young Hudson Taylor was a man who cared. God used him to found the great China Inland Mis sion. As a young man he expressed his care in these words, “ I feel as if I cannot go on living unless I do something for China.” You can’t read about the Apostle Paul without seeing that he was a
man who cared. “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). The Bible certainly proves that Mo ses had the same kind of heart, “ es teeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26). It cost him the throne. He cared —; cared for the things for which God cared. God’s business became his business. God’s concerns were his concerns. We are surrounded by a world that just doesn’t care. We even find this lack of concern in the church. It is worthy of notice that three Tibetan families will guarantee full support for one Tibetan priest. When it comes to the Church of Jesus Christ it takes 2,296 Protestants to support one mis sionary. Why? Because that is all we care.
of God that gives him the correct at titude toward God and his fellow men. Recently Dr. Morlock wrote, “An swers to daily problems come from the Book itself. It begins to speak as the voice of God, and its study be comes an ever-fresh experience.” What would happen if every Chris tian doctor expressed a care for the soul of man as well as for his body? The diseases of the body are many and varied. The disease of the soul is one. It is the disease that separates man from God and it is called sin. Since there is only one disease, there is but one cure. That cure was pro vided by God Himself through His salvation. It is received by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Without it all men are dead—doomed and damned — but who cares? The world in which we live is like the “ city of the sick” — all who enter are in need . . . spiritual need. The fact that you see the need of
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AUGUST, 1964
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