Strange Prescription
Good News – July/August 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine
Strange Prescription
A very dedicated Christian doctor was called to attend to one of his friends to whom, on various occasions, he had spoken about salvation. He examined him and diagnosed bronchitis. Nevertheless – and on purpose – he left his friend with the impression that he was treating him with a cold indifference.
“I will consider your case,” he told him; “later on I will send you a prescription. Then you can decide when you want to take the medicine.”
“Don’t put if off, doctor,” said the patient, not a little surprised and worried; “I need to take that medicine as soon as possible.”
“Oh well, I think you can wait a month if you want to. There are people sicker than you are, right?”
“A month! What are you thinking? I could be dead in a month!”
“You may be right. So, let’s say I send you the medicine. You keep it and you take it only in case you get much worse.”
“No, doctor. I want to take it now – immediately! I think you are mocking me; you’ve never treated me this way.”
At that point in the dialogue the compassionate doctor took a more serious tone and explained himself.
“Exactly,” he replied to his friend. “It’s because I am thinking of something much more serious. You seem to pay no attention to the remedy that God offers you for your soul, whose health is extremely important. How many years has it been that you and I have been talking about the gospel? You have not objected to those talks, it’s true; you seem to accept them. More than that, I think you feel more secure for the fact that you have a Christian among your friends. Nevertheless, to appear to have no time to take the remedy for your own spiritual condition.
“Now, listen to this: It is God who offers you this most favorable opportunity. But God also could allow death to take you from this life in an instant. Not even one moment more belongs to us; only this present moment. Now is your opportunity, not tomorrow nor sometime later.
In Isaiah 55:6 (NKJV) the Bible says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Consider, too, these verses: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). We can tell you how.
This article is available in Spanish as a gospel tract (#103) from Grace &Truth.