A few days after his 13th birthday, Ben had his tonsils out. Yes, a tonsillectomy! What a big word! I had heard how painful they could be on a child, but the older the child gets , when the surgery is done, the harder the recovery. Poor thing! He could hardly swallow, he was nauseous, and just felt crummy for days. He could hardly eat anything and even lost about 10 pounds in a week. It is so hard, as a parent, to see your child in pain. I wanted to take that pain and make it go away, but at the same time, I knew that was part of the process and to make his overall quality of life much better he would endure some pain. When his doctor came out of the surgery to give us the report, his comment to us was that Ben’s tonsils were “mammoth” (enormous, huge, massive). They were some of the largest he had seen on a child. He said his life would be dramatically better now that those “mammoth size” tonsils are out. His breathing would become better and he would have a more peaceful life, physically. What a statement that was! Ben had struggled for 8 years with congestion, breathing difficulties while sleeping, and overall sluggishness because of not sleeping well and then to hear that his quality of life would be dramatically better was wonderful news! Of course, he had to go through many days of pain and discomfort before it got better but we knew there was a light at the end of that tunnel.
After sitting with Ben during his recovery one night, I decided to go out for a walk. I began to ponder that statement the doctor made with every pound of the pavement;
“Now that the mammoth size tonsils are out of the way, his quality of life will get better.”
It made me think of my walk with Christ. There are times in my life when sin gets in the way, it becomes “mammoth size”, and hinders the quality of my Christian life. The very breath of my soul becomes labored when sin gets in the way and there is much unrest. There are times when the Great Physician needs to do a “sin-ectomy” so that my quality of life in Him can once again be what He designed it to be. This “procedure” is often painful and can be uncomfortable but oh so necessary for my overall health. The end result is rest, peace, and breathing the sweet oxygen that permeates to the depths of my soul and gives me life! How sweet it is! I began to praise God and ask Him to reveal to me the sins in my life that need to be removed. Though I knew it could be painful, I wanted to live a clean life that was pleasing to Him and I was willing to let Him cut it out. Forgiveness and mercy are the healing balm applied by our Great Physician to repented sin! Only He can heal our sin-infested souls and make them beautiful for His glory! It is all about Him anyway. Any pain that I endure could not hold a candle to my sin He carried on the cross.
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
So let's get real and honest before the Lord. What areas of sin in our lives need to be “surgically” removed? Maybe there are areas of bitterness, selfishness, envy, unforgiveness, bad attitudes, harsh words, grumbling and complaining, or pride. Whatever the sin, it hinders our relationship with God and needs to be removed. I pray that this will be a time of great healing in all our lives so that we will be able to breathe and worship the way God intended. It’s time for us to dig deep and reveal ourselves wholly to him!
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Acts 3:19
To prepare for the procedure, let's read our “surgical” instructions from God’s Word, repent and turn away from sin, and allow the Great Physician to do His work in our lives!
“Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
Psalms 51:7
