Church: a Hospital for Sinners.

Over the weekend, I had a stomach bug that terribly weakened me. My dad and my friend Martha rushed me to MASM here in Zomba. There, we were directed to the nurses station, and I was put under drips and given some medication. I was also being monitored, so I was there for hours.

Not so long after the nurses were done attending to me, a man came in. Although we were separated by curtains, I saw him for a moment and could sense the pain from his voice. He was having difficulties with breathing. He had pneumonia, an illness that almost took my life some months back.

I, too, was going through my own kind of pain. My stomach hurt so much and I was vomiting. I was crying with pain. Sometimes I even sounded like a goat I’m sure. But that didn’t even matter. I was in pain and I was here to get help. The man next to me was also crying with pain. The room was filled with cries. One after the other. In short, timalandilizana.

It got me thinking about something. I’ve often heard people say, “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” Well I realized this better on this day. When we go to church, we don’t go there because we are perfect people. We all have our flaws, our weaknesses, and we go there to get help. I concentrated on my recovery and I cried for my own pain. Never did I once think, “wow, man next to me has it worse than me.” Not once did he laugh at me or say, “hey girl, you cry like a goat.” Every one concentrated on their illness and I realized we were recovering at our own pace.

Why then, do some people act like they are perfect when they go to church and see someone struggling differently? A hospital is a place you get treatment because you realize you are not fine. You admit you need help. So is church. We go there to get our medication so we can be better Christians (some medication more painful than the other). No one laughs at the patient next to them. We are all struggling with our own kind of pain, there is no need to judge. Besides, if you feel you’re so perfect, why did you even bother coming to church?

P/S: if you go to your church and all you hear are motivational talks (“I see cars coming. Financial breakthroughs are on their way. A glowup is coming, sis. That hairline is coming back to ya” or something along those lines) and nothing to treat your illness(es), those people are lying to you. A whole month passes by, and you don’t get condemned for any of your sins?? Better ask yourself if you’re at the right hospital.

-1 Peter 4:17(KJV): For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

-“Don’t judge someone just because they sin differently than you.”