If your heart is hurting, what’s the cure? If your heart is lonely, what’s the cure? If your heart is grieving or broken or damaged or despondent, what’s the cure?
If you asked your friends to respond to those questions, what sorts of things do you think they’d offer as suggestions? Perhaps some folks would say that if your heart is hurting, lonely, broken or grieving…“Go to the bar,” “Go to the club,” “Hit the bottle,” “Light it up,” “Increase your dosage,” “Find a girl/guy for the night,” “Revenge tastes good,” “Maybe life isn’t worth living; snuff it out.” People look for cures in all sorts of different places.
May I share with you the cure that was stated by one whose heart has been deeply hurt, trampled and grieved more than most folks and more than many could handle? It is not a heart that is giving up (although that would be easy). It is not a heart that is seeking pity or serving self-interest (although that would be the tendency). Here it is: “The best medicine to cure the heart is to help others.” Did you hear that? Rather than hiding in a closet or lashing out at the world or throwing a pity party, a fellow Christian has found the cure—take the focus off of self and put it on others! What can I do today to make a difference in the life of someone else who is in need?
Of course, that “cure” is not new. It is at the heart of the Christian faith! We are urged, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). Some folks wait for an opportunity. Some folks shield their eyes from potential opportunities and hope they won’t come. But Christians who know “the cure” aren’t even satisfied with “waiting” for an opportunity. They look. They search. And if they cannot find an opportunity, they will even create one, just to be able to serve.
“The cure” of helping others is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). Jesus didn’t say to wait around. Jesus said to “do.” In the application of His parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus used two present tense imperatives, “Go and do.” Who knows but that the Samaritan’s heart was hurting, and he had found the cure of helping others.
“The cure” of helping others is at the heart of Jesus Himself! On the night when His heart must have been grieved beyond measure, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet and said, “Do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). In the garden, His soul was “exceedingly sorrowful” (Matt. 26:38), and yet what did He do? He went to the cross to “help us”!
Have you learned it? Are you practicing it? “The best medicine to cure the heart is to help others.”