Things That Don’t Belong

My phone was ringing.  Caller ID let me know it was the school.  However, I wasn’t concerned.  Calls from the school were not unusual. I was certain one of my boys had forgotten something. I was wrong!

There had been an accident in Ag class.  As the mother of two boys, let me tell you, this was not the first.

“The hand grinder bounced off a knot in the wood.” the school nurse told me.   “It fell and cut Chrystian’s leg.”  

When I arrived at the school I learned the safety shut off for the well-used grinder didn’t work.  I expected to see something much worse than what I saw as Chrystian walked down the hall to the front office. He was calm! And what appeared to be a minor wound was not bleeding at all!

“Don’t let it fool ya,” the Ag teacher declared with certainty. “The grinder was hot, so it cauterized the wound as it cut. There wasn’t much blood loss, but the wound is dirty and he’ll need a few stitches.”

Ah!  The perils of country living.

So, we headed to the ER.  I looked at the leg again. The wound didn’t look too bad.  As a matter of fact, it appeared to have closed itself.  It was black and burned looking, but other than that I thought he may not even need stitches.  “Maybe Mr. Cauthon is wrong,” I told my son.

But I was the one who was wrong!

‘You see, “the doctor said, “the wound is dirty.  Full of wood and metal shavings, dirt and grime.  This can cause infection.  I’m going to have to cut it open, debride the wound, wash it and put some antibiotic in before I stitch it up. You can monitor the healing at home and the stitches should dissolve in a few weeks.”

The doctor, in her mercy, did apply a local anesthetic before doing all that.  They even let me help a bit and my son was a trooper.

But have you ever seen anyone debride a wound? 

It is a NOT a gentle process! The doctor or nurse first reopens the sealed wound then scrapes and scrubs all the foreign material and dead tissue away with the medical equivalent of a Brillo pad. 

I’ve learned this to be a truth: sometimes God must complete a similar process in our lives.  We may have wounds that we’ve let close, tried to forget, or ignored; but we never really allowed Him to get in there, clean away the dirt, debris, and dead tissue.  Yes, it may be painful, but if we allow things like bitterness, unforgivness, hurt, fear, and anger to remain it could fester, become full of infection and effect the whole body-both ours and others in THE BODY of Christ.

It’s not easy to allow ourselves to be laid open like that, cut on, scraped, scrubbed, and stitched up. But if we want to walk in the wholeness promised by God we must submit ourselves to the expert hand of the Great Physician and partner with Him to cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates the body, mind and spirit. In this way we are obedient to His command to “Be holy as I am holy”. (I Peter 1:16) Only in surrendering to this process in our lives can we truly be the salt and the light He says we are. 

Healing doesn’t always come easy. Sometimes it is a process. Once the wound is cleaned the true healing can begin.

Today, Chrystian bears a small scar that tells a story of his youth. It is a reminder of an experience that shaped his future use of tools. He now considers the condition of the tool and the safety involved in using it. It is also a lesson he can use to teach others about tool safety.

In much the same way, when we endure for a season, the scars of our past tell a story that bring healing and wholeness to others. When we rid ourselves of the things that do not belong we become stronger and healthier. Victory is ours, both for the moment and for the future.

” Beloved ones, with promises like these, and because of our deepest respect and worship of God, we must remove everything from our lives that contaminates body and spirit, and continue to complete the development of holiness within us. ” 2 Corinthians 7:1