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Forget First Aid

After an accident, a woman stepped forward and began to help the victim. She was pushed aside by a man who announced,

"I've had a course in first aid and I'm trained in CPR."

The woman watched his procedures for a few moments, then tapped him on the shoulder.

"When you get to the part about calling a doctor," she said, "I'm already here."

Have you had any accidents lately? I'm not talking about automobile wrecks, what I mean are those periods in life where you feel like you just got run over. It could be relationship trouble, financial difficulties, poor health, or any other number of misfortunes that blindside us and leave a mess of things.

But that's o.k. - right? We've all been trained in the First Aid Kit of life. We know how to handle our own problems, fix our own messes, and heal our own injuries. In fact, if we don't help ourselves, who knows what might happen? We may just be left in the street, because other people are so preoccupied with themselves- they'll probably just step right over us.

We're just like the guy in the story. As soon as we detect a problem, we rush right to it, pull out the First Aid Kit, and get to work.

Meanwhile, there is Someone else standing right by, watching you try desperately to "fix" the issues of your life. In fact, you probably shoved Him out of the way in your ambitious attempt to get your stuff together.

Who am I talking about? Jesus- the Great Physician. His specialty is putting the pieces of life's accidents back together. Let me give you a few examples:

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. (Matthew 8:13)

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. (Matthew 9:22)

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14)

Things are no different now. He has compassion on us, and He knows what we need before we even ask, but sometimes we never get to asking because we're too focused on the difficulty at hand.

Meanwhile, Jesus is whispering to us: "When you get to the part about calling a doctor, I'm already here."

Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life are you pushing Jesus out of the way?
  2. Do you really believe that Jesus can handle the difficulties of your life?
  3. How can you better 'get out of the way' and let Jesus work?