Helping the Wounded

by Bob Hendren via College St. church bulletin,
Lebanon, TN

In 1953 I received orders that carried me to the First Marine Air Wing stationed at Pohang Dong, South Korea. We were an outfit with a lot of pride. However, our pride did not make us oblivious to our fellow Marines. In fact, one of the things we were proud about was keeping up with our buddy. The Communist armies would often leave their wounded to die on the battlefield, but the Marines refused to do likewise. If humanly possible they were brought back to safety and treatment. This saying marked that attitude: "You can tell a lot about an outfit by the way they treat their wounded."

The self-proclaimed atheist, Madelyn Murray O'Hare, said she was driven from religion because the churches killed their own wounded. Perhaps she had the misfortune to observe the kind of destructiveness toward persons that really denies all that Christ stood for. We know this about Him--He was for the wounded!

Churches that are truly biblical are not at all like those of Ms. O'Hare's observation. They do not refuse to work with the hurting, the divorced, the poor, the inadequate, the struggling.... Churches of the Bible do not turn on and kill their wounded, but like the Good Shepherd go out into the wilderness to find the lost sheep. Bible churches bind up the wounds, help the hurt to begin healing, and restore vital relationships.

God has this wild plan--to fill up His church with sinners! A church of forgiven sinners! A church where wounds heal! God has no plan designed to save those who want to think they're already "good enough" ( Luke 18:1ff). You can tell a lot about God by the way He treats the wounded! Let's be like Him!



Back to Contents Does God Exist?, May/Jun97.