Counsels on Health

Ready for Every Good Work

[Health, Philanthropic, and Medical Missionary Work, 36-40 (1892).]

The Lord will hear and answer the prayer of the Christian physician, and he may reach an elevated standard if he will but lay hold upon the hand of Christ and determine that he will not let go. Golden opportunities are open to the Christian physician, for he may exert a precious influence upon those with whom he is brought in contact. He may guide and mold and fashion the lives of his patients by holding before them heavenly principles. CH 340.1

The physician should let men see that he does not regard his work as of a cheap order, but looks upon it as high, noble, elevated work, even that to which is attached the sacred accountability of dealing with both the souls and the bodies of those for whom Christ has paid the infinite price of His most precious blood. If the physician has the mind of Christ, he will be cheerful, hopeful, and happy, but not trifling. He will realize that heavenly angels accompany him to the sickroom and will find words to speak readily, truthfully, to his patients, that will cheer and bless them. His faith will be full of simplicity, of childlike confidence in the Lord. He will be able to repeat to the repenting soul the gracious promises of God and thus place the trembling hand of the afflicted ones in the hand of Christ, that they may find repose in God. CH 340.2

Thus, through the grace imparted to him, the physician will fulfill his heavenly Father's claims upon him. In delicate and perilous operations he may know that Jesus is by his side to counsel, to strengthen, to nerve him to act with precision and skill in his efforts to save human life. If the presence of God is not in the sickroom, Satan will be there to suggest perilous experiments and will seek to unbalance the nerves, so that life will be destroyed rather than saved. CH 340.3

A physician occupies a more important position, because of dealing with morbid souls, diseased minds, and afflicted bodies, than does the minister of the gospel. The physician can present an elevated standard of Christian character, if he will be instant in season and out of season. He is thus a missionary for the Lord, doing the Master's work with fidelity, and will receive a reward by and by. CH 341.1

Let the Christian keep his own counsel and divulge no secret to unbelievers. Let him communicate no secret that will disparage God's people. Guard your thoughts, close the door to temptation. Do your work as in the sight of the divine Watcher. Work patiently, expecting that, through the grace of Christ, you will make a success in your profession. Keep up the barriers which the Lord has erected for your safety. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, or of death. CH 341.2

A physician should attend strictly to his professional work. He should not allow anything to come in to divert his mind from his business, or to take his attention from those who are looking to him for relief from suffering. An assuring and hopeful word spoken in season to the sufferer will often relieve his mind and win for the physician a place in his confidence. Kindness and courtesy should be manifested; but the common, cheap talk which is so customary even among some who claim to be Christians, should not be heard in our institutions. The only way for us to become truly courteous, without affectation, without undue familiarity, is to drink in the spirit of Christ, to heed the injunction, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16. If we act upon the principles laid down in the word of God, we shall have no inclination to indulge in undue familiarity. CH 341.3

The workers in our institutions should be living examples of what they desire those to be who are patients in the institution. A right spirit and a holy life are a constant instruction to others. The hollowhearted courtesy of the fashionable world is of no value in the sight of Him by whom actions are weighed. There should be no partiality and no hypocrisy. The physician should be ready for every good work. If his life is hid with Christ in God, he will be a missionary in the highest sense. CH 342.1

When they are together, Christian physicians will conduct themselves as sons of God. They will realize that they are engaged to work in the same vineyard, and selfish barriers will be broken down. For each other they will feel a deep interest, untainted with selfishness. He who is himself a reformer can accomplish good in seeking to reform others. By precept and example he can be a savor of life unto life. Would that the curtain could be rolled back, and we could see how interestedly the angels of God are looking upon the institutions for the treatment of the sick. The work in which the physician is engaged—standing between the living and the dead—is of special importance. CH 342.2

God has given a great work into the hand of physicians. The afflicted children of men are in a degree at their mercy. How the patient watches him who cares for his physical welfare. The actions and words, the very expressions of the physician's countenance, are matters of study. What gratitude springs up in the heart of the suffering one when his pain is relieved through the efforts of his faithful physician. The patient feels that his life is in the hands of him who thus ministers to him, and the physician or the nurse can then easily approach him on religious subjects. If the sufferer is under the control of divine influences, how gently can the Christian physician or nurse drop the precious seeds of truth into the garden of the heart. He can bring the promise of God before the soul of the helpless one. If the physician has religion, he can impart the fragrance of heavenly grace to the softened and subdued heart of the suffering one. He can direct the thoughts of his patient to the Great Physician. He can present Jesus to the sin-sick soul. CH 342.3

How often the physician is made a confidant, and griefs and trials are laid open before him by the sick. At such a time what precious opportunities are afforded to speak words of comfort and consolation in the fear and love of God, and to impart Christian counsel. Deep love for souls for whom Christ died should imbue the physician. In the fear of God I tell you that none but a Christian physician can rightly discharge the duties of this sacred profession. CH 343.1