When I used to meet an older person, I hardly ever thought, "I wonder what they used to be like." I just assumed who they are today is who they've always been. I might have however, have wonder what adventures they'd had in their younger days, what kind of music they listened to, or what their best dance moves were. But recently, I had an experience that makes me question sometimes, who were they before?
In the hospital setting you have access to patient's very personal information. But rarely does their medical history involve their personal life. You have enter every patient's room willing to set aside your biases and opinions and be ready to give the same care to everyone.
But then every once and a while, you learn about a personal life, and it becomes a challenge to treat your patients the same.
Let's imagine you've been taking care of a patient for a couple days. Nothing seems a miss, the patient is polite, and your care is excellent. Then when you come back after a couple days off, another nurse is taking care of the patient and you learn the previous life they've uncovered. A murderer, a rapist, a child molester, or they've commited terrible acts that make your skin crawl.
But they've served their time, their elderly, you didn't even know. Wouldn't you have noticed if you were holding the hand of a murderer? Wouldn't they have acted inappropriate if they were a child molester? Wouldn't I have gotten a sinking feeling when they looked me in the eyes?
So now, the place is a buzz. Everyone is talking about the horrible person who doesn't deserve an ounce of humanity. No one should go in alone, they don't deserve a smile, they've done horrible things therefor deserve to be treated horribly.
But is that what Jesus says?
"No matter how deep the stains of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if your stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool." Isaiah 4: 18.
No wonder I didn't see it. No wonder I didn't know. They were white as fallen snow, white as wool. I believe they were forgiven. They were made new. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, Jesus had forgotten about it.
In the hospital setting you have access to patient's very personal information. But rarely does their medical history involve their personal life. You have enter every patient's room willing to set aside your biases and opinions and be ready to give the same care to everyone.
But then every once and a while, you learn about a personal life, and it becomes a challenge to treat your patients the same.
Let's imagine you've been taking care of a patient for a couple days. Nothing seems a miss, the patient is polite, and your care is excellent. Then when you come back after a couple days off, another nurse is taking care of the patient and you learn the previous life they've uncovered. A murderer, a rapist, a child molester, or they've commited terrible acts that make your skin crawl.
But they've served their time, their elderly, you didn't even know. Wouldn't you have noticed if you were holding the hand of a murderer? Wouldn't they have acted inappropriate if they were a child molester? Wouldn't I have gotten a sinking feeling when they looked me in the eyes?
So now, the place is a buzz. Everyone is talking about the horrible person who doesn't deserve an ounce of humanity. No one should go in alone, they don't deserve a smile, they've done horrible things therefor deserve to be treated horribly.
But is that what Jesus says?
"No matter how deep the stains of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if your stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool." Isaiah 4: 18.
No wonder I didn't see it. No wonder I didn't know. They were white as fallen snow, white as wool. I believe they were forgiven. They were made new. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, Jesus had forgotten about it.
Comments
Post a Comment