Seeing God in the MRI room

One thing many have asked me over the years is how specific jobs actually emulate God and incorporate their faith in their work?

For instance, take the verse Genesis 1:28- “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’.”

It’s not hard to see that a farmer or a veterinarian might see themselves and their work in this scripture. But how would an MRI Technician for instance, relate to this at all?

To start with, I look at the words used in the scripture. God is specifically telling us to multiply and manage in their work. So, “what does multiplication look like in my field” is a great place to start.

For something to multiply, it needs several things in order to grow. Let’s use an animal like above. For an animal to grow, it needs protection. Part of managing its growth is you literally need to fight for it or keep it from harmful things. They need encouragement to grow- a hope for the future. They need support. They need basics like water, food, and appropriate nutrients to be able to grow stronger. Then they need to be challenged. They have to take the time to learn how to run, interact in the world, and get their own food. Parents can't do things for them forever, or they'll never learn themselves. They have to fall sometimes in order to learn how to walk or fly, and we would encourage them but also challenge them so that they can do it even better next time. Animals also need organization to grow- they need their surroundings to be trustworthy, relatively stress-free, and safe. An environment that is stable gives them the freedom to explore and learn.

So, how would this apply to radiology? An MRI Tech would be great at creating stability. They make sure to create a stable environment that is trustworthy and safe. They do what they can to allay the fears created from the noise and stress of the machine by providing things like music to listen to, eye sleep masks to dim the bright lights, and a pillow to ease discomfort. For my hip MRI, they were careful to line up both legs correctly so that I wasn’t in pain but also so that the pictures would be accurate. This stability creates an opportunity to diagnose or to find a potential problem that could affect a person’s growth/health and thus their ability to multiply and increase. If God cares about us multiplying, we need to be healthy enough to do so, and the radiology techs main job is creating a stable place to identify those problems so that they can be addressed.

What are some examples of how your job leads to multiplication, stability, and growth for the people, animals, or places around you? How are you doing at seeing that the physical work you do every day matters to God, even when feels like it’s sometimes not that important?

Colossians 3:17- “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”