CH 342
(Counsels on Health 342)
The workers in our institutions should be living examples of what they desire those to be who are patients in the institution. A right spirit and a holy life are a constant instruction to others. The hollowhearted courtesy of the fashionable world is of no value in the sight of Him by whom actions are weighed. There should be no partiality and no hypocrisy. The physician should be ready for every good work. If his life is hid with Christ in God, he will be a missionary in the highest sense. (CH 342.1) MC VC
When they are together, Christian physicians will conduct themselves as sons of God. They will realize that they are engaged to work in the same vineyard, and selfish barriers will be broken down. For each other they will feel a deep interest, untainted with selfishness. He who is himself a reformer can accomplish good in seeking to reform others. By precept and example he can be a savor of life unto life. Would that the curtain could be rolled back, and we could see how interestedly the angels of God are looking upon the institutions for the treatment of the sick. The work in which the physician is engaged—standing between the living and the dead—is of special importance. (CH 342.2) MC VC
God has given a great work into the hand of physicians. The afflicted children of men are in a degree at their mercy. How the patient watches him who cares for his physical welfare. The actions and words, the very expressions of the physician’s countenance, are matters of study. What gratitude springs up in the heart of the suffering one when his pain is relieved through the efforts of his faithful physician. The patient feels that his life is in the hands of him who thus ministers to him, and the physician or the nurse can then easily approach him on religious subjects. If the sufferer is under the control of divine influences, how gently can the Christian physician or nurse drop the precious seeds of truth into the garden of the heart. He can bring the promise of God before the soul of the helpless one. If the physician has religion, he can impart the fragrance of heavenly grace to the softened and subdued heart of the suffering one. He can direct the thoughts of his patient to the Great Physician. He can present Jesus to the sin-sick soul. (CH 342.3) MC VC