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Subject: Devo #44: What the Doctor Ordered Author: Gail [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 18:12:33 09/17/01 Mon Topic—Light of the World Power Point—To be children of Light we must learn to clothe God’s truth in His sweet love. This Week’s Memory Verses—Ephesians 5:8–10 Access Database—Ephesians 4:1–16 What the Doctor Ordered by Dan Williams When I was a "wee lad" (for all of you Irishmen reading this), I was often sick. That usually translated into Mom prying my mouth open and forcing down a teaspoon of antibiotic to "make me feel better." In the meantime she’d cheerfully sing the phrase, "just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!" Go down? I’d swallow a cactus easier than that horrifying stuff! Well, you know what? She was right. Just a few short years later the medicine people started offering flavors for kids! And you can be sure I was a grape-antibiotic junkie! Just a teaspoon of sugar does help the medicine go down. And unless the medicine stays down in their guts, how can sick people get well? God gives us medicine, too. You took it once you realized how sick your sin had made you and that you desperately needed a cure. I’m referring to the Truth, God’s medicine. It’s His primary treatment for curing selfishness, heart sickness, despair and hopelessness. Let’s simplify a little: The Truth is what God thinks. Before we met Jesus, it was little more than the solution for our gloomy circumstances. After meeting Jesus, it becomes the manual for living a peaceful and fulfilled life. Once we embrace the Truth, we are making a conscious decision to do the right thing instead of simply choosing the easy way out. Truth clears the fog of confusion when life gets too complicated to enjoy. It fixes broken relationships and defuses the ticking time bomb of anger and resentment. But the Truth is hard to swallow for most sick people. So God prescribed love to help His medicine go down. Medicine cures the body, but it’s a doctor’s tenderness at the bedside that soothes the soul of his patient. The next time you’re with a friend or an unsaved family member and you are trying to share the Truth about how God feels on any particular subject, be sure to share that Truth with a healthy dose of God’s sweet love. The words you speak can cure their sickness, but the tenderness in your delivery is what helps it go down. Now go back and read Ephesians 4:1–16 one more time. Identity Matrix—Disciples of Christ... Know God—In what way did God reveal Himself to you as you read His Word? Live for God—What one lifestyle change is God calling you to make? Love Others—In what way is God calling you to minister to someone in need? Bear Fruit—In what ways will you set the example and the standard for others to follow? [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]