Called to Care: A Christian Worldview for Nursing, Essay Example

Peter 4:10 contains an explicit reference to the use of the gifts that one has received for the benefit of others. In other words, there is a clear link in this verse between service, altruism and personal ability. This service for others may be understood according to the concept of care. This is because in the Biblical verse, gifts one has received means that others are in some sense lacking this same gift. They may, therefore, be unable to care for themselves in the context of an illness. The one who is healthy serves the other by serving him or her in this time of illness – the nurse, therefore, intends to ameliorate the living conditions of the patient. It is care, accordingly, which is a direct example of how human beings, to paraphrase, may “administer God’s grace” in the world, in so far as those afflicted by illness, disease, stress and worry in the hospital context are served by nurses who try to alleviate to the best of their abilities – their “gifts” — these negative conditions.

This has a clear resonance with what Shelly and Miller (2006) term as being “called to care.” In the context of the Biblical verse, someone has received a gift – but a gift is something that by definition is shared. A gift does not have an end point but is passed forward. To be called to care is to understand one’s good fortune, one’s own capabilities, one’s gift and then attempt to use what God has given to help others. Being called to care is a recognition of our obligations to others, of a greater care for all human beings, which is so eloquently summarized in 1 Peter 4:10.

Works Cited

Shelly, J.A. & Miller, A.B. (2006). Called to Care: A Christian Worldview for Nursing. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.