It is no secret that the Western Medical Model has failed us. Built primarily on the treatment of symptoms and disease, this model has trained us to focus on our problems more than prevention. We have become a society seeking relief rather than patiently waiting for healing.

We demand answers from physicians while simultaneously questioning their wealth of knowledge and expertise. To the ones who took the Hippocratic Oath, we are the hypocrites who say we want healing but make contrary choices.

All the while, Jesus is the Great Physician. He reminds us of this in Luke‬ ‭5:31-32‬ ‭(ESV‬‬), “Those who are well have no need of aphysician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

‭‭Yet, Jesus did not come to treat the symptoms. He came to heal the sickness. And the root of our sickness is sin.

Like a weed pulled from a garden, if you do not remove it at the depth of the root, it will return. When we turn to Jesus in confession and repentance, He removes the root of sin from the rich soil of our souls. A soil yearning to bear fruit unhindered by the weeds of wickedness.

What are some of the personal symptoms you commonly ask Jesus to treat?

What are the familial symptoms you have prayed about for years?

What are the societal symptoms we are trying to address as a nation?

Maybe the answers are hidden beneath the surface symptoms. Perhaps we need to dig deeper to the root of our emotions, our conflicts, and our social constructs.

Just as physical symptoms are mere manifestations of a physical sickness, relational and societal symptoms are signals of a deeper issue, an underlying source.

Sin is the underlying source, the raging undercurrent that tries to sweep us downstream into false realities and distance us from God’s truth.

If we want to sing “it is well with my soul”, if we want familial reconciliation, and healing for our nation, we cannot continue to ask Jesus to treat the symptoms. The Great Physician came to heal our sin-sick souls for eternity.

National, community, and family healing starts with my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Personal accountability married with a personal relationship with Jesus are the keys to unlocking the truth of God’s Word.

The truth, and only the truth, will set us free, personally, relationally, and as a society. Truth uproots the wicked weeds of sin. Without absolute truth, we are like a compass that cannot find True North.

Let Jesus be your Great Physician, the Model who fails not, the Gardener who tends to your soul, the Lifeline who saves you from the raging undercurrent of sin, the Truth-Bearer who always points you to True North.

Choose healing over relief. Choose Jesus, personally, for your family, and for our nation.