The suffering need a full treatment plan, not just help for their symptoms

We would be wise in our own lives to never be content with quick fixes or partial improvements — we should ask for the full, Divine Dentist's, treatment plan.

It is easy to give, or ask for, a handout, remedy or instant solution to solve an immediate need. It is more difficult, time-consuming and emotionally taxing to take the next step to address the real issue. When someone really, truly cares about an individual who is suffering, the compassionate thing is not to do the minimum to alleviate proximate pain, but to do the harder thing of eliminating or fixing the cause of it.

C.S. Lewis, in his landmark work "Mere Christianity," provides a perfect model, from the perfect minister, as to how to compassionately care for those in need and how we should respond when we are the one needing rescuing.

Lewis had received many letters questioning his view on the New Testament verse, “Be ye therefore perfect.” Lewis proffered that what the Lord was really saying is, “The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.”

Lewis then shared an experience from his youth, “When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain. …

“But I did not go to my mother — at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right.

“And I knew those dentists: I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. …"

Lewis continued, “Our Lord is like the dentists. … Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of … or which is obviously spoiling daily life. … Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.

“That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost' before becoming Christians. ‘Make no mistake,' He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that … I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect. … This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.'”

Lewis recognized that alleviating symptomatic pain is insufficient and likely not sustainable. Of course there will always be immediate issues to deal with. If someone is homeless, shelter is required. If a person is lonely, they need a visit. Those who are suffering with addiction need relief. The jobless need food for their children. The challenge is that we never become so content with our efforts that our service actually traps those in need exactly where they are, and we leave patting ourselves on the back for preserving the status quo. We have to be willing to do more.

If it is true that the Lord, the perfect minister, is like the dentist, perhaps government programs, community groups, religious organizations, families and each of us as individuals should strive to minister to those in need in a similar way. It takes far more heart, emotion and determination to provide lasting relief and strength than to go around dispensing aspirin to dull the pain of those who suffer.

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was taught as a medical student that any doctor who touched a human heart would be run out of the medical community. President Nelson knew that just dealing with the symptoms around the heart, without actually getting to the heart of the matter, would never be sufficient to save and extend lives. He and his colleagues did touch hearts, literally, and gave them the C.S. Lewis dentist treatment. The results were revolutionary and transformational for countless lives.

Now as the leader of a worldwide church, President Nelson is touching hearts in a new way. He has called on the membership of the church to minister, not to the societal symptoms, but to compassionately get to the heart and soul of those they serve. He calls it, “A higher, holier way” to minister. Such service is neither swift nor simple as it requires deeper commitment and more personally tailored measures.

Finally, we should remember that in this life, the rescuer at some point becomes in need of being rescued. We would be wise in our own lives to never be content with quick fixes or partial improvements — we should ask for the full, Divine Dentist's, treatment plan.