The Great Physician

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Mark 2:17

Have you ever been to a dermatologist?  

If you have, then you know these special physicians have a trained eye.  They can look at the smallest imperfections in our skin and distinguish innocent freckles from dangerous cancers.  Often, we don't even recognize these imperfections as problems in any way until these doctors point them out.

Removing skin cancers is easier when they're small--though not without pain and discomfort.  The dermatologist either burns them off, or they cut them out in microscopic layers until all of the cancer is gone.  But, when the cancer has gone untreated for a long period of time, it has a tendency to spread and is much more difficult to get rid of.  It requires surgery, often leaving us changed forever, and sometimes it spreads throughout our body, causing great devastation.

As I continue to bring my life before The Great Physician, asking Him to refine me, I find it is a great deal like visiting the dermatologist.  God has a trained eye that sees things in my life that I've never given a second thought--sins and bad habits I never considered to be any problem at all.  And, He lovingly shows me the damage they are doing, and all the ways these things are keeping me from God's best.

But, He doesn't stop there.  Skillful surgeon that He is, God lovingly and perfectly removes these areas of sin--layer by layer--until His beauty shines through.  And, when the sin has metastasized throughout my life, He patiently treats me through the radiation of His Word.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."   

We can trust the Word of God, unlike the philosophies of people, as Psalm 12:6 says, "The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times."  When you spend time reading His Word, you know this to be true.

Are you in need of some radiation therapy?

May the Great Physician purify all our lives through the precision of His scalpel, and the radiating light of His Holy Word today and every day until He finally brings us home.