The Doctor's Cure for the Diseased City

A Story

Once upon a time a terrible disease was destroying a great and beautiful city. Everyone there had the disease; they suffered horribly and were dying. Strangely some people didn’t like to admit it, so they pretended they were fine and tried to cover up their symptoms. Others thought that if they changed their lifestyle they might get better. But the disease was too deep for that. Still others knew they were in a very serious and dangerous situation, and they longed for a cure.

There was hope. A great Doctor had the cure for this terrible disease. He was a deeply compassionate man: he suffered enormously - far more than anyone with the disease - in order to get the cure.

A few years earlier, this cure had reached some people in another infected town, on a far away island. The Doctor was on a mission - busy sending cured people as messengers to all kinds of places. The Doctor asked a boy to go as a messenger from the island to the Diseased City, full of dying people. So he sent him to explain the simple cure, which he had received, and which would save their lives.

There were just a few people in the Diseased City who had already been told about the cure and, wonderfully, had been healed. But they urgently needed help to spread the good news of the cure.

The messenger arrived and the size of the city was overwhelming. There was just so much need. Everyone needed help. Where would he start? His heart bled for those who wouldn’t even admit the seriousness of their situation. They greeted him politely in the street, but weren’t interested in why he had come. He knew how sad the Doctor was for these people, and it made him very sad too. The Doctor’s cure was their only hope, but they wouldn’t even listen.

However, in time, rumour spread about the message - the good news of the Doctor’s cure. These people didn’t pretend they were fine, but admitted their desperate need for help.

It was immediately clear that the only way the cure could reach more people in the city would be if those who had been healed also went to tell other people, multiplying the messengers. The Doctor had even told the boy that this was his strategy. It was urgent, not just because people were dying, but because there were confusing messages out there. Sadly there were some people in the city who claimed to have the cure, but what they said wasn’t what the Doctor had said. Even though their message sometimes sounded similar to the Doctor’s cure, it was so mixed up with things that were either very misleading or simply wrong, that their hearers were in a very dangerous position all over again. They thought they were being healed but many of them were being led astray and were still dying.

So the messenger joined forces with those in the city who had been cured and who humbly and gratefully listened to the Doctor’s message. They recognised the importance of communicating it clearly and accurately. Only then would their fellow people be safe and well. They worked hard together to make sure that what they passed on to others really was what the Doctor had said, paying careful attention to his message. And wonderfully, it worked! Of course it did. The Doctor didn’t suffer for nothing! More people eagerly came to hear, more were cured, and more of them went out to spread the good news, truthfully and joyfully, bringing life to many.

Ups and Downs

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)

Am I struggling?

Kind of. But then again I’m so blessed. What’s confusing is how I can feel sad and frustrated when I know I’ve got so little reason. I’m sure I’m not the only one who ever feels that.

What I mean is I’m conscious of so many ways in which I have it very easy. But daily there are things that make me frustrated, sad, confused and tired too. Just like anyone else I guess.

• I live in a peaceful place. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet every day I do feel the pang of being a long way from home.

• I live and work with kind and loving people. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet even with Christian unity there is always a vast cultural difference that makes relationships slow and at times confusing.

• I have plenty of important work to do, which I greatly enjoy. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet sometimes it feels like a pathetic drop in the ocean, and it’s far too early to know if any lasting fruit will come from it.

• I have a team of family and friends praying from afar. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet “afar” really is far away and I grieve the unavoidable loss of friendship. It’s simply impossible to keep up friendships at the same level I enjoyed back home.

• My singleness is a gift enabling great freedom and flexibility in life and ministry. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet I’m frequently forced to rethink that when everyone here is shocked to find out I don’t have a wife or children (part of being a respectable adult here). It kind of feels too complicated and difficult to think about so I slightly bury my head in the sand.

• I have good health and a functioning body. Thank you, Father. So many people can’t say that. Yet it’s a frequent struggle to trust God with the likelihood of getting malaria or whatever else, and with rather different healthcare from in the UK. 

So, really I’m fine. I’m more than fine - I’m extremely blessed with so much to be thankful for. But somehow things can feel tough too. It’s hard to explain.

I guess the vital thing then is knowing where to find joy when it’s not in my circumstances or emotions. Arguably the grandest theme of the whole of Scripture is God’s FAITHFULNESS. I’ve loved being reminded of that as I’ve taught a Bible Overview course. All throughout the Bible we human beings do not come off at all well, even those who know God closely and experience his great kindness and love. Even the highest points (like the Exodus from Egypt or Solomon’s glorious kingdom) are tainted by sin and sadness. Yet through it all God is faithful and unchanging.

Nothing will keep God from fulfilling his promises - he will hold on to, take care of, steadfastly love, and finally bring home his beloved children.

So things may be up and down. But even if things were to get much worse, what comfort God’s children can take from his word. Notice the security of the keeping and shielding in these words...

“In his great mercy God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:3-7)

So I might wish I were more resilient. But - praise God! - I don’t have to rely on my shaky resilience. I can rely wholly on the rock of God’s keeping power and my rock-solid hope in Jesus Christ: kept in heaven for us by God.

Do you ever feel similar ups and downs? Or do you have a friend or church mission partner far away who might feel similarly? I reckon I’m on pretty safe ground in offering these words as the remedy: God is faithful. What a Rock of security the Christian believer has. Your inheritance will be kept secure, and you will be kept secure too, as we wait.