The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
Luke 6:45 niv
Several years ago, my son fell on his arm while skating. From the outside, his arm looked fine, but his cries of pain told a different story. When the doctor held the x-ray up to the light, even my untrained eyes could see the jagged edge of his small bone sticking out.
I can still hear my brave little soldier’s cry of “Ow-ow-ouch!” when the doctor needed to ‘set’ the bone back into place. They had ushered this nervous Mom out of the room for the procedure, and when I came back in, I saw my baby’s freckles standing out in stark contrast to his paler than usual complexion. After being fitted with a bright orange cast, he recovered enough to ask when he’d be able to skate again!
From the outside, we cannot see everything happening on the inside of a person’s body. But God can. Not only does he see beyond our skin, He sees our hearts. And God doesn’t see just arteries, vessels, and muscles, but knows the intent and spiritual condition of our hearts.
Jesus told the Pharisees, the hypocritical religious leaders of His day, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.” (Luke 16:15 niv)
What if God administered a ‘spiritual x-ray’ and held the condition of your heart up to the light so all could see the results? Would you be ashamed? Would the sickness of sin be evident? Just as the doctor set my son’s bone back into place, God wants to ‘set’ our sin-sick "hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1 niv)
God knows what you think, what you feel, and most importantly, if He truly is the Lord of your life.
I’m sorry to say my son fell less than a year later and broke his other arm!
Prayer: Lord, I love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Thank You for loving me. Lord, help me to keep my heart set on things above and serving You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
3 comments:
Hey, Donna,
I always enjoy your devotionals. When you mentioned that your son broke his other arm a year later, I thought about how this x-ray process is an ongoing thing because we are always falling down and breaking something spiritually. How blessed we are to have a Physician to recognize the break, set the jagged ends in place, and add the cast to begin the spiritual healing process.
Yes! Praise the Lord for His continuing care of and for His children.
Your son must have been somewhat like mine. At the age of three, my son fell a distance of less than three feet and broke his arm. Two weeks after the cast was removed, a little neighbor boy, with no malicious intent, followed the impulse to yank the coiled up hose that Jay was standing on. Jay fell and landed on the same arm and rebroke it in the same place.
It's a reminder that God is patient to continue the healing on the inside. If we don't conquer our flesh the first time, He is still loving and patient to continue working on us.
Thanks for the memories. Those truly WERE enjoyable days, in spite of the broken bones. I think there may be a spiritual lesson in that statement, as well. :)
Ellen
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