It seems safe to say that we live in an over-medicated and hypochondriac society.Today there are medicines for almost every condition a person may have, and nearly everyone is taking some type of prescription drug.We are inundated with advertisements from pharmaceutical companies that make us believe that we need their drugs.It is no wonder that healthcare costs are out of control in this nation, for many of us believe that we need to go to doctors and take medicine just to live even when we do not.
While many people may be overly eager to treat their physical ailments, most are neglectful of their spiritual illnesses.They fail to recognize that sin has separated them from their God and is destroying them like a disease.Without this awareness, they do not seek a remedy, for they do not see the need.They have no motivation to go to the Great Physician for the medicine that can heal their souls.
Perhaps this is because Christians have not done a sufficient job of making others aware of their needs and the Lord’s remedy.Whereas pharmaceutical companies go out of their way to make us aware about our physical conditions and their medicines to treat us, Christians are not telling others about their dire spiritual conditions and the plan of salvation.Christians must realize that part of preaching the good news (gospel) of Christ is first raising awareness of the bad news of sin.Only when people recognize their serious need for salvation from their sins will they come to the Lord.
Sin is a serious disease, and serious diseases call for strong medicine.Just as a potent disease like cancer requires a severe treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation, so also the blight of sin requires the blood of Jesus Christ.Light medical treatment will not cure a serious disease, and light spiritual treatment will not take away sins.The only remedy for sin is a full dose of the strong gospel truth.
Strong medicine often provokes a strong reaction, and the same is true of strong truth.Nearly all medicines have side-effects, and the stronger the medicine, the more severe the reactions.Yet a person who is sick will accept the side-effects if he believes that the medicine will save his life.Likewise, the gospel truth has side-effects and causes extreme reactions.The gospel calls on people to change their lives, which is difficult for most.Yet if they truly desire to save their souls, they will embrace the difficult changes and take the strong medicine that Christ prescribes.
Jesus knew that He would provoke sinners when He spoke the truth, but He was not deterred.Throughout the records of Christ’s ministry, we read of Him speaking the truth boldly even when He knew that His hearers would be offended, angered, or bewildered (for examples, see Matt. 15:1-14; 19:1-12; John 8:52-59; 10:22-31).Nevertheless, the Lord continued to administer the strong medicine of truth because He knew that the people needed the truth to be saved from the disease of sin.
Therefore, we who are Christians should not be deterred from speaking the strong truth of the gospel either.When we encounter a person who is lost in sin, we should speak the words that we know are needed regardless of the reaction it may provoke.Our tendency is to shy away from difficult, confrontational situations, and we often offer weaker words when we fear a strong reaction.However, this was not the approach of our Lord, and it should not be the approach of His people.We should preach the gospel boldly and without shame, for it is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16).Only when we administer this strong medicine can we truly hope to heal the souls of the lost.
