Placebo

A woman trying to sleep had a bad headache. In darkness, she fumbled in her bedside table drawer for analgesic. Finding a squeeze-tube, she glazed the refreshing ointment over her forehead, and her headache faded. However, the next morning, she was smeared with toothpaste!

The best the world can offer for a sick heart is a placebo compared to the real thing. Through Jeremiah, God says that false “prophets” and “priests” depend on placebo words, thinking they bring peace, when they heal nothing. Empty words mark sham religion. “Be healed!” they shout, but the pain is still there as the person is rushed from camera.

James describes placebo religion when he writes of those who tell hungry, inadequately clothed people to be full and warm, but gives them no food or garments. (JAMES 2:14-15) God uses people to heal people, sometimes medical specialists and sometimes a person who lays hands on a sick person. But however healing comes, it’s always God. Without Him, everything else is a placebo.

TODAY’S FOCUS
Mind your physician and take your medicine, but acknowledge God as your ultimate Healer.