Basic HTML Version
Teaching and Healing
93
We need to come close to the people by personal effort. If we
would give less time to sermonizing and more time to personal min-
istry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved,
the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the
ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep
with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. Accom-
panied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power
of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.
We should ever remember that the object of medical missionary
work is to point sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary,
who takes away the sin of the world. By holding Him in view, they
will be changed into His likeness. We are to encourage the sick and
suffering to look to Jesus and live. Let the workers keep Christ, the
Great Physician, constantly before those to whom disease of body
and soul has brought discouragement. Point them to the One who
[74]
can heal both physical and spiritual disease. Tell them of the One
who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Encourage them
to place themselves in the care of Him who gave His life to make it
possible for them to have life eternal. Talk of His love. Tell of His
power to save.
This is the high duty and precious privilege of the medical mis-
sionary. And personal ministry often prepares the way for this. God
often reaches hearts through our efforts to relieve physical suffering.
Medical missionary work is the pioneer work of the gospel. In
the ministry of the Word and in the medical missionary work, the
gospel is to be preached and practiced.
In almost every community there are large numbers who do not
listen to the preaching of God’s Word or attend any religious service.
But they can be reached by the gospel as missionary nurses bring
relief of their physical needs in their homes. As missionary nurses
care for the sick and relieve the distress of the poor, they will find
many opportunities to pray with them, read from God’s Word, and
speak to them of the Savior. They can pray with and for those who
do not have the strength of will to control the appetites that passion
has degraded. They can bring a ray of hope into the lives of the
defeated and disheartened. Their unselfish love, manifested in acts
of disinterested kindness, will make it easier for these suffering ones
to believe in the love of Christ.