“But I have no money to pay you!” said the mother tearfully as she talked with the surgeon.
As she waited for his answer, the mother felt that this was their last chance. Would this famous surgeon be able to help her daughter Julie to see again? Could any doctor help her? They had been to so many with no success, and now their money was gone.
Someone had told her of this well-known surgeon and the new skills that he had developed. But they were so poor she had nothing left for payment. Then she heard him say, “I will see your daughter. If I can help her, I will operate.”
This famous and skilled doctor could say, “I will if I can.” The Great Physician could say, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)). The best doctors in the world can only cure up to the level of their skills. The Lord Jesus Christ has given the promise of eternal life to “whosoever believeth in Him.”
Julie hugged her teddy bear tightly as they wheeled her into the operating room. She was asleep when they removed it gently from her arms. When she awoke hours later in a hospital room with bandages covering her eyes, her teddy was snuggled close in her arms again.
During the days of waiting and pain, Julie talked to her loved teddy bear and told him all about it, for he seemed more than just a plaything to her. He was the only treasure she had, and he seemed like a dear friend to the little girl.
Then one day there was excitement in Julie’s hospital room. A nurse was removing the bandages from her eyes while Julie held her teddy and her mother’s hand tightly. The doctor was speaking quietly. “Julie, the last bandage will soon be taken off, but don’t open your eyes right away. When they become accustomed to the light coming softly through your eyelids, I will tell you when to open them.”
It was hard to wait. The room was so quiet. Then the doctor was saying, “All right, Julie. Open your eyes and tell us what you see.”
Slowly her eyes opened and focused on the face of her mother. “Mommy! Mommy! I can see you . . . oh, I can really see you!”
Too happy to speak, her mother held Julie closely in her arms for a few moments. Then she said softly into her ear, “Julie, there is someone in this room who is far more important than I am right now. It is this doctor who operated on you and has given you your sight. What do you say to him?”
For a long moment Julie looked at the doctor who stood smiling at her. She held her teddy bear tightly, and then she held it out to the doctor.
“Please take my teddy,” she said simply. “I want you to have him.”
Years later the doctor told some friends about the little girl. He said, “I will never part with that little old teddy bear. It came straight from the heart of a little girl who gave me all she had!”
A far greater Physician has given everything for you and for me. Our Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, has given His life for us so that the eyes of our hearts can be opened. “Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titius 2:1314). “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)).
What will you give Him? Won’t you give Him your heart, yourself, your life?
ML-10/31/2004