The Sick Need a Doctor

When our boys were very small, they both started suffering with severe stomach issues. Jesse’s issues started first then a few months later, Chase’s started. The symptoms were daily and nothing nor no one knew how to help us. One boy had severe constipation, the other had severe diarrhea. They both had a full body rash that felt like sandpaper. They were suffering with bad headaches and their faces would turn really red around their cheeks. The one with diarrhea also had to deal with his tushy being too sore to clean. The one with constipation had to deal with drinking medicines that would help him go to the bathroom. It was a nightmare. We went to so many doctors’ appointments, had so many tests done and no one could tell us what was happening or offer a solution. And the one piece of advice our pediatrician gave us was counterproductive. He suggested they drink pear juice. Not good!

We had to write down everything they ate and drank. We had to document any soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. they used. It totally consumed us. We could not escape it. And it broke my heart to see them so sick.

I was determined to find the answer. We shared our symptoms with others in hopes that someone would point us in the right direction. Late at night I would scour the internet and do my own research. I felt like the professionals were failing us, but I did not want to fail my boys. Helping them to feel better was my main focus and I was not going to stop searching to find out what was plaguing them.

Into the chapter of Luke 5, Jesus sees a tax collector named Levi. We know him as Matthew. Jesus sees him, walks to him and simply tells Levi “Follow me and be my disciple” in Luke 5:27. So Levi did. A little while later Levi has a banquet in his home. Scripture says, starting in Luke 5:29 - Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” In verse 31 - Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

As Christians, we’ve all met them and we’ve all been them. The self-righteous. The person who doesn’t see anything wrong with how they are living. All of their actions, thoughts, and plans are justified in their minds. “I can spend my time, my money, my talents the way I want to spend them.” Goodness knows I have been in this spot – and unfortunately I stayed there for a long time. I had convinced myself, and Satan backed it up for me (he was very willing to have my back on this one), that since God slighted me at age 20 by allowing my fiancé to become paralyzed and never walk again, then I had every right to live my life how I wanted. And I did; for 20 years. Two decades.

However, hopefully you’ve witnessed the flip side and have lived this yourself. The admitted sinner. The person who finally comes to a crossroads in life, humbles themselves, and says “I don’t want to travel the paths I have been traveling any longer. I need a change in my life. I need a Savior, for I’m a sinner.” Then you humble yourself before God and repent of your sins and ask for His forgiveness.

Wow! What a beautiful thing – the day the self-righteous are so sick of themselves and their ways and their actions, that they say “Lord Jesus, come into my life, forgive me of my sins, and heal me.” Scripture tells us the angels rejoice every time this happens – it is that glorious!

A self-righteous person does not realize his or her need for salvation, but an admitted sinner does.

At age 40, I finally came to a place in my life where I was disgusted with myself. I had invited Jesus into my heart at age 6, but I did not live for Him. I lived for the world and myself, but I didn’t see it fully until I came to a crossroads where all roads pointed to worldly things, except one. All the other roads were paths that I had taken time and time again, but was still left wanting; still not fulfilled; still struggling; still proud; and still empty. I didn’t want to take those roads any longer. I knew I was a sinner and needed to repent. I knew I was sick and needed the Great Physician. At 40 years old, I rededicated my life to the Lord. He was waiting on me. He was so incredibly kind and gentle with me. Jesus told me I never had to go back there to my misery; He was doing a new thing. And boy did He! Do you know in our 40’s my husband and I adopted two babies? Wow! Jesus started moving in our lives, once we surrendered to Him, and has far exceeded our expectations of how awesome it is to give our everything to Him.

But back to my sons when they were little and so incredibly sick with stomach issues. Jesus didn’t leave us. Yes, it was during my 20-year period of justifying how I would live my life the way I wanted. But Jesus guided my internet search to another mom – a stranger in another state – whose child was experiencing the exact same symptoms as my boys. She was the first time I had ever heard the term “fructose malabsorption.” And guess what? Because I could finally put a name to my sons’ symptoms, that led us straight to a doctor in Charlotte, NC who specializes in fructose malabsorption and helped my children get well. But even he was limited. He could not cure it. They will always have it. I have it and my mom has it. But this doctor gave us the exact tools and shared with us the exact diet we needed to follow to keep all the horrible side effects of fructose malabsorption away. Our bodies do not absorb fructose or sugar – so we stay away from fruit, things with high fructose corn syrup, and sugar. That was the answer. Not pear juice!

Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners? Why does Jesus wait patiently on us to get to a place in our lives where we no longer want to do what we’ve always done? Because we are sinners and Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Friends, that’s us. He’s giving us the exact tools and has shared with us the exact “diet” we need to follow to keep all the horrible side effects of our sins away. Open God’s word, the bible, and start discovering how to be made well and stay healthy in our walk with Christ.

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