The Ultimate Expert

There is a bizarre understanding of Jesus's message I think. I don't think I am here to solve the problem....in fact if my hypothesis is correct I can't solve it, but I hope I shed light on something I believe to be a problem.

One way Jesus described himself was as a doctor here to help the sick. He also explained to the Pharisees (who didn't see themselves as sick) that if you weren't sick you didn't need a doctor so he wasn't here to help them.

The irony is that we are sick. All of us....even the Pharisees.

There is this bizarre notion that if we accept Christ that we are no longer sick. Treating him as the medicine instead of the doctor. When you go to the doctor he doesn't say "You look pretty sick, but now that you've seen me you're all better!" In fact, if you had a doctor like that I bet he would get fired pretty quick.

Seeing the doctor is what leads you to feeling better because the doctor gives you medicine. The doctor bandages wounds. The doctor gives you new behavior to alter the way you currently are. And no one would stop going to the doctor. When new ailments arrived they would return and seek his counsel and medicine.

With God, the medicine is His grace and continuing to return is exactly what we need. He prescribes weekly check ups.

However, some people are confused. They think after seeing the doctor once, they are not only cured, but they are now the doctor. I bet this happens with real doctors too. After the patient see the doctor, they start talking about how they were cured and recommend it to their friends as if they were the doctor instead of saying "Let me recommend my physician to you." No two people are alike so what works for one doesn't work for the other.

This happens with Christianity. Some people, even though they profess to view themselves as sinners, view themselves as fully cured of sin. They are now righteous and therefore fit to judge. The Bible frequently talks about not being judgmental simply because we aren't fit to judge people. We can't full know their hearts. Yet we act as if we did. How did this happen?

The same way your sick friend thinks that they are cured and now the doctor. "It worked for me, give it a shot!" And while they do recommend the physician, they recommend the treatment the physician gave them as well. And if you don't use the same treatment....you are doing it wrong.

Computers are another good example. I fix computers for a living and I'm pretty good at it. I can fix most minor and some major computer problems. A lot of my adult users attempt to solve their problems without contacting me first. Then by the time they need me, I have an even bigger set of problems on my hand than I did before. If they had stopped when they needed to and said "I need help" I could've solved it for them very quickly.

My students (especially the young ones) never ever act this way. They never say "Let me try and solve this with no help from the expert at all." They immediately freeze, raise their hand and ask for help. Usually, I can fix their problems in no time. But the more they try to fix it, the harder it is for me to fix it.

That's how we need to look at God. Not to call on him after we've messed everything up. Call on him at the first sign of trouble. When we don't know what to do we call in the Ultimate Expert.