Todd Guthrie, MD, PC
Physician, Heal Thyself
Christiana loved her new knee. Ever since the arthritis had gotten so bad that she could no longer take her usual walk after lunch, she had gained weight. But now she could walk, and three months ago she had gradually worked up to a mile or so.
“These knee replacements are great,” she had said to herself just a few days before a severe setback. Her knee suddenly had become hot and swollen. When she called her surgeon, he immediately ran a battery of blood tests: a complete blood count (CBC), a C – Reactive Protein (CRP), and an Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR). Sure enough, her white blood count was elevated on the CBC, and both of the other tests showed high inflammation. Her surgeon took her right to the operating room and gave her knee a thorough washing out, and told her he thought her infection might clear. Infections of this kind are very serious; some, if left untreated, can lead to amputation.
Both Christiana and her surgeon prayed for healing; both were optimistic. She continued on intravenous antibiotics for several weeks before switching to pills, which she would need to take for many weeks. Frequently she had to have repeat blood tests to see if the infection was clearing. Finally the day came when the CBC, the CRP, and the ESR all showed that there was no infection left. It was safe to take her off the antibiotics.
What a relief! Now she could walk again!!
Like Christiana, those of God’s children who believe that God has reconciled the human race to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18,19) and have agreed to join the divine-human family, have received a new heart (Heb. 10:16-17). But as Romans 7 tells us, there is still an infection of the flesh, of self, to be overcome.
We, as health professionals, must make sure we are not vectors of the selfishness bug, or we will be a curse to our own patients. Not to mention that we must have the infection cleared before we are safe to walk the streets of the New Jerusalem. We may not know the day or the hour when our treatment is finished, but by faith we know it will be completed. And we can know how things are trending by applying the medicinal therapy and getting our blood tested. Here is what the divine physician has in mind: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Rev. 3:18
It would be a shame to be cut off, amputated, from Christ after all He has done for us and in us. We must show that the Heavenly ESR (eye salve remedy) proves corrective to our distorted, inflamed vision so we can rightly see what our patients really need. We need to see that the divine CRP (Christ our Righteousness Protection) is covering us, saving us from ourselves, and making us effective in ministry. We must have the gold* of Christ’s righteous lifeblood flowing through our veins, as revealed in the final CBC (Christ’s Blood is Complete) test, before we can walk disease-free and pain-free for eternity with Him.
*Interestingly, gold nanoclusters may be the solution to shutting down resistant bacterial infections such as Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Functional Gold Nanoclusters as Antimicrobial Agents for Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria. Wei-Yu Chen, Ju-Yu Lin, Wei-Jen Chen, Liyang Luo, Eric Wei-Guang Diau, Yu-Chie Chen. Nanomedicine. 2010;5(5):755-764.