Lifegiver, Lightbearer, Great Physician

News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.
Mark 1:28

Good news has a way of getting around. If you were to begin a ministry to hurting people, word would spread and you—like Jesus—would never lack an audience.

But the price of serving is often suffering and inconvenience, as Jesus exemplified. And as Eusebius acknowledged 1,700 years ago, you must first count the cost.

WALK WITH EUSEBIUS
“A devoted physician, to save the lives of the sick, sees the horrible danger, yet touches the infected place, and in treating another man’s troubles brings suffering on himself.

“But we were not merely sick, or afflicted with horrible wounds and ulcers already festering. We were actually lying among the dead when Christ saved us from the very abyss of death.

“Alone he took hold of our most painful perishing nature. Alone he endured our sorrows. Alone he took upon himself the retribution for our sins.

“When we were lying in tombs and graves, he raised us up, saving us and giving us his Father’s blessings without measure.

“He is the Lifegiver, the Lightbringer, our great Physician and King and Lord, the Christ of God.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
To bring life, Jesus willingly faced death. To offer comfort, he endured suffering. To touch the sorrowing, he shared their sorrow.

Now he calls on you to extend help to those who hurt. By a word. A touch. A smile. An unexpected kindness.

Hurting people aren’t hard to find. In fact, those willing to search will find them all around.

Widows and orphans, the sick and bereaved, the lonely and neglected—all need to hear the good news that there is a Great Physician.

But let the word get out that you are looking for those who hurt, and you—like Jesus—may find yourself permanently popular!

So how will you help the hurting today?