A Pastor’s Encouragement To Healthcare Workers

By Greg Allen

Our world has been devasted by disease before…many times. COVID-19 is not the first disease to create great fear for the people on this planet and cause them to become consumed with self-survival. This is a perfect opportunity for the people of GOD to demonstrate the peace and compassion that comes from the privilege of belonging to the One who created this world and the peoples who live in it. Today’s healthcare workers have the greatest platform to let the world see the peace and compassion of God as they care for those affected by COVID-19.

People need to see what peace looks like. Peace comes when people are not afraid to die. Peace comes not from having enough money to buy food, medicine, and shelter, but from having no fear of the consequences of having none of those things. God’s people have a deep peace because we know our future is secure, therefore we are not afraid of anything in our present.

Christian healthcare workers will naturally have the temptation to be afraid of the coronavirus. All of us are prone to fear. But we are not our own; we have been bought with a price. And greater is the One who is in us then he who is in this world. My prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ who work in the healthcare field today is that they be overwhelmed with the peace that passes understanding. I pray they resonate with Jesus when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Father choose a less painful path for him, yet he ultimately – full of peace – submitted to his calling. May there be peace in their hearts.

People need to know what compassion feels like. Compassion wells up in the hearts of people who realize how sinful they are, yet have experienced God’s mercy to forgive their sin through Christ. The joy of being forgiven results in a deep compassion for others, and a desire that they also know the forgiveness of God. Christians show the deepest and best compassion because they know how it feels to have compassion shown to them. When Christian healthcare workers choose not to run from the Emergency Room, but rather run to it in order to help the person affected by the coronavirus, they are demonstrating God-like compassion.

There is another decision to consider. What if our fellow Christian healthcare workers find a humble way to tell their COVID-19 patient the reason they chose to work in the doctor’s office or the ER that day? What if we all pray that God would give us discerning words to share with the sick, the fearful, the worried, the vulnerable, the forgotten people who are deeply and even gravely affected by COVID-19? What if the people of God, who are called by His name, would humble themselves and pray and seek His face? Maybe, just maybe, God would hear our prayers, and choose to heal our land. And if He does choose to heal, would we be quick to tell others of His goodness, not ours? Could we give Him the credit, not take it for ourselves?

May the result of COVID-19 be that the glory and majesty of God be seen in His people as they demonstrate peace and extend compassion to all people.

Download full ebook "A Healthcare Worker's Response to COVID-19" here