My Inbox of Daily Inspirations: Daily Heartlight -- July 9, 2008

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July 9, 2008

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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================

I Don't Like Hospitals, by Steve Ridgell

I have recently spent time at the hospital while my mother-in-law was
recovering from surgery and I realized that I do not like hospitals.
And it finally dawned on me why I do not like them: they are full of
sick people. It's the same reason I do not like to go to the doctor's
office. That is where all the sick people go. You sit in waiting rooms
with people who are not well. They have diseases that may very well be
contagious. I do not even like to go for my physical. If I was healthy
when I got there, I may not be when I leave. I am not like all those
sick people; I am healthy. Well, most of the time.

I guess there are times when I might have a little bug. And I did have
surgery for a surface melanoma. Sometimes I feel "under the weather."
But I am not a sick person. I don't belong in a hospital, or a doctor's
office, like those other people. In fact, I want hospitals to have a
"sick" wing and a "you're really not sick" wing. Maybe my doctor can
have two waiting rooms.

Yet all of us, including me, get sick and need care. It is not healthy
to deceive myself into thinking I am never sick, cannot get sick, and
am never a sick person. So I am working on my perception of hospitals
and doctor offices. They are places of healing for sick people, and
sometimes that means me.

I wonder how many times we have distorted our view of churches the same
way I do hospitals. Do we believe churches are for people who cannot
"get it together," who have made lots of mistakes, and whose lives are
a mess? Do we believe that does not describe us, or that we are not
like those people who need church? The truth is, we are just like those
people. I do not know of anyone who goes through life without needing
help from anyone.

Churches sometimes seem to have gone to the opposite extreme. It is as
if they want to appear to be a place where only healthy people meet to
celebrate the fact that they are spiritually healthy. It was not meant
to be that way. Churches are places of spiritual healing for those who
are sick. And they are made up of those who have been healed ... even
while remembering that we are survivors.

Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I
have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke
5:31).

That call is for me. If you are looking for healing and hope in your
life, visit www.hopeforlife.org . Join our discussion about this on our
blog. Or write me at steve@hopeforlife.org.

I want to help you find spiritual healing.

Churches are where the spiritually sick find healing.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing,
retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article.

Are you presently experiencing a new life? God's word says, "if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!"

This new life is a free gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ. If
you want to know more about this life that only Jesus can give you,
sign up for one of our Bible courses. Wherever you are in life,
whatever you've done, you can begin again.

You may also contact us at info@hopeforlife.org if you have questions
about becoming a new creation.

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(c) 2008 Herald of Truth Ministries

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Daily Heartlight -- July 9, 2008