doctor's life support

14th July: Confidence

For the spirit that God gave us is no craven spirit, but one to inspire strength, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NEB)

Christians have no need to be afraid. Knowledge of our sin need not sap our confidence: we are to be confident not in ourselves but in God. The Christian way is not negative; it is positive with positive virtues.

At the beginning of another day, let us ask God that we may be bold in his service. It needs courage to witness to Christ in a secular environment. It needs faith to trust God for our capacity to cope with the problems which will arise.

God's Spirit gives us strength. This strength is not for ourselves but that we may serve others. Our patients often feel bereft of strength, physical, mental or spiritual. Let us seek to strengthen others through the strength which God gives us.

God's Spirit inspires love. Our patients need all the knowledge, skill and experience we can give. The aim of a Christian must be to practise first-class medicine in a spirit of love -- genuinely seeking the welfare of our patients, regarding them all as people who matter, going out of our way to help them in every way possible.

God's Spirit inspires self-discipline. Life tends to be very busy, demands are made upon us from every side. We need self-discipline to organise our lives, so that we use our time effectively. We need self-discipline to overcome bad habits which so easily enslave us.

Let us pray for that gift of God, the Spirit who can empower us, fill us with love and give us control over ourselves.

Gracious Spirit, dwell with me!
I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal
Would thy life in mind reveal,
And with actions bold and meek
Would for Christ my Saviour speak.

T T Lynch

Further reading: Gal 5:22-24. 2 Pet 1:2-8.

JEL-J