The Cyst

For the past several years I have had a cyst slowly growing on my head. It started out pretty small.

It has gradually grown bigger over the years. For most of the time, it has not been a problem. Until recently. Then it started to get in the way. I started to ding it every time that I cut my hair. And it became more and more obvious when I looked in the mirror.

This week I got fed up and had it removed.

The doctor did a good job. He made a small incision and took the cyst out. Three stitches. No bandage. Hard to see. I will have a small scar though.

Took away all the jokes I had planned about getting the hole in my head spackled. Kind of depressed about that.

Anyway, as I thought about this I realized that the cyst is kind of like sin in my life. It can start out kind of small and hidden. Then, over time, it grows and becomes more obvious and starts to interfere with things.

It can't be tolerated or I will be totally disfigured.

So I have to deal with it. I have to cut the sin out.

But I will have been changed by the sin.

No matter how good and completely that I remove the sin, scars will remain.

But the scars are not the same as the sin.

Scars are a sign of character...

Trials

So in checking my e-mail this morning, I came across one from Matt Furey (yes, that's his real name). He links to a video where he describes a tough time in his life where he did some stupid things and paid a heavy price for it.


A couple of comments really jumped out at me. The first comment was made by his cousin: "God never gives a human being a trial unless he also gives them a means to rise above it."


I was immediately reminded of 1 Corinthians 10:12-13: "So, if you think you are standing firm be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted , he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."


And of I Peter 1:6-7: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."


See - I am not sure that I agree with the part of the statement that "he also gives them a means to rise above it." I think it is more accurate that God gives us a means to endure it and that distinction is a big difference. We are promised that trials will come our way and that we will suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

There may not be a way out except to endure until the trial is over. But God will be there right along side of us through it all.

The statement was also made on the video that "people don't need to heal outer scars they need to heal inner scars." And this is so true.


In this society, we are so concerned with outer appearances and not concerned with what is going on inside. We judge people on the outer appearance when we shouldn't be judging them at all.


There are a lot of hurting people around us and we aren't even aware that they are hurting. We don't know what is going on behind closed curtains, on the Internet, at the office, with the kids and the family. We don't know the hurts and loses from long ago that are so scarred on their hearts that they can't see hope. Yet they put on the brave front so well we have no idea there is anything wrong.

It is so easy to think that nothing is wrong. We don't get to know our neighbors and coworkers other than on a superficial basis. Or we are so concerned with our own outer appearance that we don't look beyond the superficial with others.

We can't heal the inner scars of others but we can introduce them to the Great Healer. And we can realize that there is a human being behind whatever outer appearance we have trouble getting past.

And maybe, just maybe, we are to be there to help them through the trials we are promised.