November 18, 2020
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You know, all those headache remedies promise fast relief, of course, but they all actually take time - even the best of them, whatever one that is. I mean, can you imagine someone with a headache and they take two aspirin, and immediately they say, "Nothing happened! My head still hurts. This stuff is bogus!" So they pop three more. In five minutes this person says, "I've still got a headache!" They pop several more.
Now, pretty soon this person is going to be in trouble, actually in the emergency room. You want to step in there and say, "Stop! You're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up!" And they say, "Yes, but I took the aspirin and nothing happened." Well, of course, you're going to come back and say, "Well, you have to wait for the result. You've got to give the medicine some time!"
Or imagine if you're taking penicillin. You take the dose that the doctor prescribed and you wait five minutes. You still have a fever, you still have a sore throat, you're still sick. So, you say, "Oh, nuts! I'm going to take the whole bottle!" No, no, no! This is not advisable! I'd hate to even think what would happen. You see, we've learned to wait for a healing effect before we use any more medicine. If we don't, we're going to cause an even greater problem. That's especially true when you're treating someone you really love.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Give the Medicine Some Time."
As we look into Mark 4, beginning in verse 26, our word for today from the Word of God, I want you to think about someone you are personally concerned about right now: a child, maybe a parent of yours, a brother or sister, or a close friend. And you've told them your concerns about them, and you've told them, and told them, and told them. And they still haven't changed. They're proceeding down a road that you're afraid will not lead to a headache, but to a heartache.
It could be that you're missing a vital step in the process of confronting people with the truth, and here's where we go to Mark 4:26. It's an agricultural passage really. "Jesus said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain - first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. And as soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.'"
Now, Jesus is saying here that the farmer has the job of scattering seed. Then he re-enters the process when the seed is bearing fruit. But in between, look what the farmer does. He backs off. He gives the seed time to germinate. Now, if he goes over, digs it up, keeps looking at it, tampers with it, "Hey, I wonder if this thing's growing? I don't see anything happening," he's going to kill the growth. Jesus is telling us, "Give truth time to work, and quit panicking because it doesn't seem to be growing right away." It's like that medicine. Give the people you love a dose of God's truth, and then settle back and let it take effect. And in the meantime, you pray like crazy for that seed to germinate.
When we're concerned about someone we love, we tend to push them too much. We actually may delay their ever coming to grips with the truth. We push them right away. They don't seem to be listening, so we say it too loud, too long, and too often. The more doses we try to force on them, we make them spit out the medicine that might change their life.
Truth requires time to germinate. It looks like nothing's happening, but don't try to force another dose. Don't interfere with the growth of the seed. They need a little space. Faith in the Lord sometimes means shutting up and letting God use the truth that you already spoke in love. Have patience while He works.
Don't try to make that loved one take a whole bottle of spiritual medicine all at once. Lovingly give a dose of truth, and then back off and let God grow it. Give the medicine some time.