JUST THINKING: Glorious Prognoses For God's People
I feel for the many people who worry so much. (I’ve been blessed to not be one who worries.) I was just thinking about those who go to their physicians due to a health issue. The doctor pulls up his stool and takes a seat. His shoulders drop, then he says, “I have to tell you that you have this terrible disease.” When the patient asks what he means, he responds, “If untreated, you have no hope. However, with the correct treatment your prognosis is excellent!” Whew! That is good news, isn’t it? The prognosis is good!
With the exception of Jesus Christ, every person born on this earth had a terrible disease. It’s called sin. Sin sickness, left untreated, will not end well. Its consequence is everlasting life in the lake of burning sulfur. However, for those who have placed faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, the prognosis is glorious.
• Believers are justified by faith. Many are likely familiar with the account of the Syrian Army commander, Naaman, who was cured of his leprosy. It was his faith that brought his cure. When he looked down, he could proclaim, “It was just as if I’d never had the disease.” Believer, now that your sins are forgiven, you can rejoice and say, “Just if I’d never sinned!” That is why Jesus is also called the Great Physician!
• Believers have peace with God through Christ. I mentioned those who worry about their illnesses. Can you imagine the relief, the burden lifted, as a cancer patient hears “You are cancer free!” That person then gets to ring the bell before doctors, nurses and family. Do you think that individual might have just a little smidgen of peace? Of course! And that is exactly what God wants His people to have — peace that transcends human understanding.
• Believers stand cured by grace. I grew up with Gary Johnson. We went to school together from first grade through graduation. When I first met him, he had big bulky braces on both legs. Gary had polio, and he could not walk without those braces. But by our fourth grade year, with proper treatment and therapy, Gary’s braces were removed for good. He could stand! Afterward, as he returned to school, he stood before the class, raised his pants legs and said, “Look! No more braces. I can stand, I can walk and it won’t be long before I can run!”
Like Gary, in the grace of God, believers can stand — no longer sin sick and no longer burdened down. Grace — what a wonderful word!
• Believers have glorious prognoses. Here is the good news! “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9 NIV). Sin is the diagnosis — salvation is the cure! Here is the prognosis: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
On one of our eye care ministry trips to El Rinconcito, Mexico, a four-year-old little girl was brought to us. She had not been able to see well since she was an infant. Dr. Audie Teague told me her vision was really bad and he was afraid we didn’t have the glasses she needed. He gave me the prescription and I began to search our inventory of glasses. I found a pair that was exactly what she needed! With our staff around him, Dr. Teague placed the glasses on the little girl. With her eyes wide open, she looked at her mother and, in Spanish, proclaimed, “Oh Mama, you are so beautiful!” That examining room was filled with adults shedding tears of joy — rejoicing that she could see.
One of these days, every believer will stand before the Lord, forever grateful that, despite the diagnosis and because Christ died for them, there was a glorious prognosis for God’s people.
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Dr. Tom Mitchell
Dr. Tom Mitchell pens a column titled, Just Thinking, in which he addresses many topics relative to the Baptist Missionary Association. His Trailblazers series provides biographies of many BMA trailblazers from the past.
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