March 6, 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I begin the day with a letter to God, then I read his word, and lastly I write a letter to the world. I do not know who reads what I write or where you are in the world. I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who works at the bedside of the sick and injured in a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. Some of the things that I have seen over the years cause me to lament. The patient who was in my care for the past two shifts gave me much to lament about. He went through a vey difficult surgery and had much bleeding. Recovering him has been a challenge for the entire team. I have come to understand nursing as a ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ which uses science to better understand how to do the job of taking care of our neighbor. Many come to nursing who are good at science and math but do not necessarily have the heart for nursing. To stay in nursing for many years requires more than being good at science and math, it requires a caring heart. My last shift was a difficult one and much of nursing is difficult but nursing is a ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and ought to be understood as such by everyone in the profession. 

In Romans 16:1-2, the apostle Paul wrote: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.”

The word servant in this text is translated from the Greek word “diakonos.” In other passages (Rom 13:4) the word is translated minister; therefore, a diakonos can be both understood as a servant and a minister. Nursing is a ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We serve the physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of our neighbors for the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ,

Michael Peek

The Nurse Theologian 

Pure In Heart

March 5^th

Psalms 73:1

Surely God is good to Israel,

To those who are pure in heart!

What does it mean to be pure in heart? It means to love God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. (Dt. 6:5) When asked which is the great commandment in the law, Jesus quoted this passage from Deuteronomy. (Mt. 22:36-38)  Then Jesus said: “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” 

To be pure in heart is to love God: Father and Son and Spirit with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by keeping his commandments but how do we demonstrate our love for our neighbor? Jesus said in Matthew 7:12, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Therefore, we demonstrate our love for other people by treating them the same way that we want them to treat us. To be pure in heart is to be like Jesus Christ!

In Jesus Christ,

Michael Peek

The Nurse Theologian

What Is Your Desire For Others

March 4^th

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you, and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.

What or whom is a Christian? How do you describe christian conversion? I would submit to you a christian is one who has repentance towards God. A christian is one who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. A Christian is one has been born again, born from above, born of God, born of the Spirit. A Christian is one who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. A Christian is one who has been baptized. Repentance, faith, confession, baptism and regeneration are the christian life; all of these elements together make a christian.

Today I read Psalms 66-69 and I found all of these elements in these psalms. What I found interesting for the believer, for the repentant, for the confessor, for the baptized, for the regenerate in the psalms is the hope that his salvation will lead to others worshiping the Lord. 

Psalm 67 in particular is a calling for God to bless Israel but not for Israel’s sake alone but so that the rest of the world may come to know the true God who created heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them. Israel’s blessing was not for them alone but also for the gentile also. Psalm 67 mimics the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24-26.

As a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, what is your desire for others? Do you desire for others to be blessed and kept by God? Do you desire that the Lord make his face shine on others and God be gracious to them? Do you desire that the Lord lift up his countenance on others and give them peace? 

Doctrine and Nursing Practice

The Christian life is doctrine and practice. You cannot have the one without the other. I spend my days off from work studying doctrine and my work days in practice. Why nursing? It seems odd that a man who spends a great amount of his time studying theology would choose to work at the bedside taking care of the sick. Are not theologians in ivory towers? Are not learned men in institutions of higher learning?

The ministry of Jesus Christ was twofold: he provided for the physical needs as well as the spiritual needs of the people. Our Lord washed his disciples feet, are we not to do the same as our Lord? Nursing is a difficult and dirty job but that is not my complaint. I do not like what I have seen in nursing as of late. In order to staff the nursing units, hospital administrations have resorted to all kinds of incentives in pay, but the nurse who does not leave and works day to day is forgotten. It is as though nurses are incentivized to leave the bedside for another bedside, so nurses are continently moving and changing jobs. Most move every two years if not more often. The more this happens, the more incentives, and the more incentives offered, the more nurses leave. It is an endless cycle which does not take into account the reason for nursing. 

Nursing is a ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nurses see to the needs of our neighbor. We care for the human body, the human mind and the soul. Why nursing? To honor God who created us, to exalt Jesus Christ who redeemed us and to seek the best for our neighbor who is one of us.

In What or Whom Do You Trust?

This morning I read Psalms 51-57. All of these Psalms were written by David the king of Israel. David was king in Israel but he was like each of us. David was a sinner fallen short of the glory of God. David could not exalt himself and say, “Look at me and behold my greatness, behold my righteousness.” David knew that he was a sinner fallen short of the glory of God. David knew that all that he had was given to him by God. Therefore, David’s trust was in God. David gave thanks to God and praised his name before the people.

I awoke early this morning and could not fall back asleep. My mind begins to think and I cannot quite my thoughts. I was thinking about my convictions regarding the word of God and eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the last things, the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of mankind. My eschatological convictions are already not yet. I believe in an already inaugurated, not yet consummated kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ, in heaven and on earth, but Jesus has not yet returned to the earth to sit down on his glorious throne. When he does, all the nations will be judged. The blessed will go into eternal life but the accursed will go away into eternal punishment. This has not yet happened but Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth.

In my job, at the bedside, in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, I see a great deal of human suffering and sad stories. Yesterday, I took care of two persons created in the image of God who are marred by the curse. However, there is hope for all who repent and trust in Jesus Christ. David and the Christian are saved the same way; David had repentance towards God for his sin and he trusted in God for his salvation. Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” All that we need for salvation has already been accomplished; we need but repent of our sins and trust in the word of God.

Zion

Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion in the far north,

The city of the great King. (Ps. 48:2)

 

 

Zion is the city of the great King. The prior Psalm (47) proclaims that the Lord God is King. Zion is spoken of often in the Bible and especially in the Psalms.

I have often heard someone say that Zion represents the church. The invisible church from Abraham to the present day; however, I have a few problems with that interpretation.

Firstly, Zion was a real place, another name for Jerusalem especially in the prophetic books or more specifically a mountain in Jerusalem. (OT, Strongs) In the days of the Old Testament, if you wanted to come to God, one had to come to Jerusalem and worship him at the temple. The temple is no more, it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. 

Secondly, Zion is the city of the great King and God is King of all the earth. (Ps 47:7) After his resurrection, Jesus said to his disciples: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Mt 28:18) Jesus is no longer on the earth, he has been taken up from us into heaven, (Acts 1:11) and he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb 1:3) “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb 7:25)

Zion in the Old Testament is Jerusalem, more specifically the temple mount but Zion in the New Testament is not the church, it is the city of God. One need not go to Jerusalem or the church for salvation but to Christ Jesus because he is in heaven, the true Zion above, he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high and he lives to make intercession for us. 

Therefore, one need not go to Jerusalem to worship God or make sacrifices and one need not go to the church for salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” (Jn. 14:6-7) You can go directly to God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The church is not Zion, the city on the holy hill. The church is the fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ. 

In Christ alone,

Michael Peek

The Nurse Theologian

To Whom Shall I Share My Faith

To whom shall I share my faith? My patients are to ill to hear the word of the Lord and their loved ones are only concerned with their present recovery. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I care for the body but the body dies and is corruptible. All who repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will be raised with a heavenly body, an incorruptible body, a body that will never perish. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I believe that God is one Divine being subsisting eternally in three persons (Father and Son and Holy Spirit) all of whom are equally God in essence. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, fully God and fully man in one person; he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, a descendent of David the king of Israel. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I believe that Jesus death on the cross was a sin sacrifice for his people. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I believe that Jesus arose bodily from the dead on the third day; all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth and he is seated at the righthand of the Father God almighty. 

To whom shall I share my faith? I believe that there will be a bodily resurrection of all the day on the last day, when Jesus returns to sit down on his glorious throne to judge the earth; the blessed of the Father will enter eternal life, in the new heaven and new earth but the damned will go away to eternal punishment, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death. 

To whom shall I share my faith? To whom shall I talk with about the word of the Lord?

In Christ alone,

Michael Peek

The Nurse Theologian