Once I heard this Middle Eastern carpenter say, "You know, the healthy don't need doctors." It was such a curious phrase to me. Like, is he referring to gluttony? Like, what do you really want from me? And does it apply across the board, like the wealthy don't need money? Or the brilliant don't need books? Or food is for the hungry? Or should I look around my stuffed-to-the-brim drawers and closets. At that shirt and pair of pants I don't necessarily like, but one day may decide I like so I might wear it. I would normally think to myself, "I need a bigger closet." Or look in my fridge and at the day before yesterday's leftovers and think to myself, "Man I'm starving, and we don't have anything to eat." Or maybe bemoan the cost of healthcare like, "how dare they charge that much per month!" Like, those doctors and pharmaceutical salesmen make millions, how can they only be available at Tuesday at 5. That's during rush hour traffic. I mean, what am I even payin you for? And I wonder, I wonder if you're like me and you try to dehumanize issues into budget line items or tax write-offs, or better yet pats on our own back, self-righteous pats, gatherin up them tally marks, as if God is more happy with you, when you round up and you drop a little change into that little box next to the cash register with the picture of them little pitiful kids. Or maybe a missionary came to your church and they talked about the proverbial them. And as you wonder why there's no free wifi in this building and you scrounge for a buck or two for your kids, it's a good lesson for them.
Now can we move on and hear the message? I mean, after all the Gospel needs to be preached, and somebody gotta pay for them lights on that stage. And you know that carpenter, he had an apprentice, and he once said while he was locked up he learned to be content in all stages, whether his spirit, wallet, and bank account was on choking or swollen shrek pockets on his. He's good. And I think we've got a great understanding of the broke side. Yeah we get it, our contentment is in the Savior, yeah me and Him talk a lot during them times. But I wonder, when them dollars are coming, and our drawers are stuffed full with clothes and our cupboards got plenty of food we just don't like the food in it. And fresh water flows from multiple rooms in our home, I wonder how silly we must look to the rest of the planet. Like, swimming in an ocean, praying for rain; like, standing in the middle of grocery stores, starving. I don't think we know how to abound. Yeah he said "the healthy don't need doctors." And it got me to thinking, am I really that healthy. I think I'mma go clean out my closet. I don't need all this stuff.