Refusing Treatment

“But you’re not okay; you need to get treatment before it’s too late,” Andrew felt tears forming in his eyes. It pained him so to see people ignore their sickness!

“No!” Luke Howard practically screamed his answer. “I’m not sick. I don’t need help.”

“Wait–please! Let me show you your test results. You can see that something’s wrong…”

But Luke had already stormed away. He didn’t want to hear that he wasn’t okay.

*********

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Andrew would have never believed the situation. The entire town was infected with a fatal disease. There was a cure–but, strangely, only a very few were willing to take it. Part of the disease itself blinded those infected with it to their need for help.

Some people let the disease run rampage in their lives. Boils grew untreated on their skins. Their fevers ran unchecked. But they didn’t care. There was always someone worse off they could point to and claim, “I’m better than him!” Their lives were just too filled with their own pursuits to worry about treatment.

Others tried hard to cover their symptoms so no one else would notice (and so they could convince themselves they’d be okay). They hid their boils under fancy clothes and makeup. They took fever reducers to reduce the fever. They convinced themselves and others they were healthy. Yet underneath their guise, they were just as sick as the sickest. It didn’t matter how well the disease was hidden–it was killing them none-the-less.

Still others admitted their sickness and attempted to save themselves from the disease. They exercised, ate special diets, and tried other proposed cures, but to no avail. All their efforts did nothing to arrest the disease’s progress.

The only way to be saved from this particular disease was to take the cure offered by the Doctor. You would think people would be standing in line, eager to receive it. But they weren’t, because, in one way or another, they didn’t believe they really needed it.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

“When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mark 2:17