Jesus famously declared: ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Mark 2:17).
It raises an interesting question about our churches – perhaps you have come across it before – ‘Which do our churches most resemble: a group of people waiting for a job interview or those waiting in a doctor’s surgery?’
Are we more like people intent on impressing a prospective new employer, or those waiting to get help from a doctor? The more you reflect on the question, the more challenging it becomes.
First, it concerns our view of ourselves. Do we focus on, and eagerly emphasise, our excellence? Are we in our ‘Sunday best’, hiding flaws and failings – even from ourselves – and mentally puffing ourselves up? That’s how it is when you are trying to get a job. In a doctor’s surgery, the mood is rather different. People are conscious of difficulties and struggles, and they hope to get some help. There is a certain humility and awareness of need.
There are also differences in the attitude we take to the person we are there to meet. In one we are trying to impress – the applicant has to win over the job interviewer with a display of brilliance. But the patient isn’t trying to impress anyone – they see the doctor as someone ready to help those in need. So they speak of their struggles – that’s the whole point of being there. And the more they experience the doctors’ compassion and care, the more eagerly and willingly they will speak of their struggles.
Differences also exist in the attitude toward others. At a job interview there is a sense of rivalry because everyone is a competitor. I want to be better than you. If others receive favour, we are jealous, wishing it was us. The doctor’s surgery, meanwhile, can have a sense of camaraderie. We are fellow petitioners and in our shared need we wish one another well. When others receive help, we share in their joy and are reassured that we are in the right place.
Finally, there are different feelings toward those ‘outside the room’. We might prefer to keep others out because we don’t want more rivals. Or, I suppose, we might drag others in to prove to the boss just how good we are at recruiting. Neither is healthy. Sick people, by contrast, who know how good it is to get healing, just want to share their story of blessing. When they see others who are sick – especially those who don’t realise healing is available – they are delighted to share news of the care they have found.
You can, of course, overdo illustrations like this. Perhaps I already have! Yet I think the analogy is powerful. It seems to me that it accurately captures the religious attitude that never quite goes away. There is something in us that can’t seem to stop believing that we must impress God. But when that attitude prevails it creates the kind of community that the job interview describes. How very different are the rich relational characteristics of the community that has sought and found grace.
So, how do we cultivate this ‘doctor’s waiting room’ attitude? Here are two ways. If we are in leadership, it’s critical to be clear that, before all else, we are fellow patients. Don’t let yourself drift toward thinking and behaving as if you were a doctor’s employee. A receptionist usually knows the doctor very well and they generally spend all day directing people to the doctor. But they aren’t patients. They aren’t there to see the doctor themselves. Those in pastoral leadership mustn’t be like that. We are only ever fellow patients.
Second, whoever we are – church leader or member – we should take every opportunity to speak of our spiritual need as well as of the blessings we have received from the Physician of our souls. In that simple way, we keep remembering both who we are, and who He is. And the community of our church will be more as it should be.
More about Biblical Counselling UK is available at www.bcuk.org or you can contact them at info@bcuk.org or c/o Christ Church, Christchurch Street, Cambridge CB1 1HT
