Have you ever thought about the simularities between a hospital and the Church? Recently I was online and I saw a post about how the church is a hospital for souls. When you think about it there really are several simularities.
When you are sick or hurting where do you go? Most people go to the doctor’s office or maybe to the hospital if the doctor’s office is already closed or something really serious is happening. The purpose of a hospital is to provide medical care to patients. This is usually some type of emergency care or advanced care that you cannot do at home by yourself. Thankfully places like hospitals exist where we can get help when we really need it. Hospitals are full of staff, nurses, and doctors that have studied and are well trained to handle most problems that come their way. If a hospital does not provide care or does not even try to help people that are sick and hurting then that hospital is not fulfilling the overall purpose of hospitals.
When people are sick with sin they need to turn to the true Physician. As we see in Mark 2:15-17, Jesus is that Physician and in Him is every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Jesus came into this world to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He wants people to come to Him (Matthew 11:28). Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind (Romans 5:8), and He provides the only way to be made free of sin, have our sins washed away, and gain access to the Father (John 14:6, Hebrews 9:14, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:1-4).
When we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins Christ cleaneses us and He adds us to His Church (Acts 2:38,47). Jesus is the Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18), and has given us numerous examples and commands of how we are to respond to the sick and lost of our world (Matthew 28:19-20). He wants the workers in His Kingdom to study and be ready to preach the Word to the lost (2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 4:1-5). No matter who we are we too were once lost in sin (Romans 3:23), but now that we have been made whole we are to be workers in the Kingdom. The Church is like a family-run hospital with Jesus as the Great Physician.
Derek Broome