"Will It Hurt Much?"

A number of years back, my youngest grandson came limping into the house with tears streaming down his cheeks. The palm of one grubby hand and the opposite knee were both scraped raw, obviously the result of some unfortunate meeting of flesh and concrete.

Grandma, the nurse, had gone to the store, so the nursing was up to me. The sobbing subsided somewhat as I soothed and comforted the hurt. But howls of protest went up anew when I suggested cleaning the wounds and putting on some medication. “No, Grandpa! No, no…wait.” When I insisted it had to be done, the immediate question was:
“Will it hurt much?”

This was by no means the first experience of this nature, and each time I am both amazed and amused at the reaction. The hurt is already there, the pain is evident, yet there seems to be a fear that the treatment will not be worth the added hurt it may cause. We always try to explain that the washing may be unpleasant for a moment, and though the medication may sting just a little, it will be so much better afterward. It will help keep away infection which could cause a lot more pain, and the wound will heal more quickly. However, I have discovered that only time and experience will convince the fearful child that the cure is worth the hurt.

Then I look at my own life and wonder if I have ever really learned that truth, that the cure is worth the hurt. When there is an area in my life that has been scraped raw by some unfortunate meeting with the realities of life, am I ever afraid of the means by which healing could come? Have I ever pulled back from that word or deed which could cleanse and medicate my wounds because deep inside I was crying, “Will it hurt much?”

Perhaps this was part of the problem of the rich young man who came to Jesus seeking the means to eternal life. We know from the account that he was basically a “good” man; but there was a longing in his life for something more, something beyond. Jesus gave him the exact answer for him, one that was personally suited to his needs. But the young man was afraid that it would hurt too much. He went away sadly, still filled with the pain of dissatisfaction, not willing to risk the hurt of giving up what seemed precious to him.

There are times when we all have pulled away from God, fearing how much it was going to hurt. What more was I going to have to give up? What might God ask me to do, or suffer for Him? How much was it going to hurt to be a “growing Christian”? You can look around at others and see the festering, ugly sores that sin causes. The wound, to heal, must be cleansed, and the proper medication applied. But, oh, there is that dreadful fear that the cleansing and cure will be worse than the injury.

How shortsighted we are! How many times we cause ourselves even worse injury by pulling away from the one who would help us, breaking open the wound even more when we struggle against God’s cure.
A physician or nurse is often required to take care of our physical wounds. But for our spiritual wounds, we Christians have the Great Healer living right inside of us – Jesus is our ultimate “Doctor”. He may use others around us to help clean the wound, but the ultimate healing power must come from Him.

Open wounds fall into four categories: abrasions, incisions, lacerations, and punctures. I believe that there are parallels with each in our Christian lives, and God treats each kind differently.

An abrasion occurs when the surface is scraped off and the area is left raw and bleeding. Most of us receive abrasions in our lives almost daily simply by coming in contact with the circumstances of life itself. These raw areas of life could include anything from the small scrape of a traffic jam on the way home from work to the large scrapes of severe financial problems or the seeming senseless injury of a loved one. The only way to avoid these scrapes of life would be to withdraw from life entirely. If I want to live life fully, I must be ready to accept these abrasions as part of the life God allots me, and be always ready to apply His healing balm. The special point that I must stay in awareness of is this: since I am a child of God through my living union with Christ, MY abrasions are HIS abrasions. Christ will apply the medication in love, with the least amount of hurt possible. “For we know that all things work together for GOOD to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). No spiritual festering or infection!

An incision is a cut, and it seems that the incisions of life come from the personal, one-to-one contacts that we have with people. It may be a cutting word or act that causes the incision, and if I do not immediately apply the medication of peace and forgiveness, the wound becomes quite sore and inflamed. Those who cause the incision may not even be aware of the injury they brought about, but it is so easy for me to disregard this fact as I nurse my wound of hurt feelings and injured pride - and cause even deeper sores to develop. No over-the-counter home remedy medicine works here. It must be the prescription medicine of Christ’s peace and forgiveness from within. When I see and accept my weakness of soul and flesh, I grow to that point where I have no human pride to hurt! Then the Healer from within can take over and I will not have to ask if His cure is going to hurt!

Sometimes even the tiniest wound can become painful - a little paper cut, or a tiny speck of dust in the eye. We sometimes allow the small, nearly insignificant cuts people have inflicted on us to become much more sore and painful than necessary - all because we neglect to trust Christ to dictate what we should do in dealing with those feelings. Quick medication - quick cure!

Lacerations are similar to incisions, but a laceration is a tear rather than a clean cut. Again, lacerations come from my relationships with people who are part of my life - but they are brought about intentionally and roughly, and the tear is more painful than a cut. Because the edges of such a wound are more ragged, healing takes place more slowly.
Malicious gossip is a common source of spiritual laceration, but there are many other ways in which people can tear at us. Physical abuse, constant mental stress, unfaithfulness by a spouse, etc., all tend to rip at us and lacerate us. But the feeling of being overwhelmed by the injury should cause us to fall trustingly into the arms of our internal Physician, Jesus Christ. After the severe pain of a laceration, His cure cannot hurt much.
Puncture wounds are those which are self-inflicted. It is difficult for me to admit that I am most often the cause of my own injury, but such things as stubbornness, moodiness, egotism, and self-pity will penetrate my life time and again, and cause puncture wounds which go deeper than they seem and are difficult to heal, if I am not continually watching.

One of the dangers of puncture wounds is that they do not bleed freely as other types of wounds do, and therefore there is no cleansing action by the body itself. This is true also of the puncture wounds in my life. When I allow weaknesses in my own character to penetrate and make holes in my life, I am somehow unable to bring about any self-cleansing for my wound. I must be willing to turn the treatment completely over to God. Without any reservations, I must let Him give me whatever I need to clean and medicate the wound while I grit my teeth against the pain. Does it hurt much? You bet it does! It hurts a great deal! But the hurt is insignificant when compared with the good that will result.

A deep hurt sometimes comes when God sends one of His human instruments to help me see the cause of my self-inflicted wound, so that I can avoid it in the future. Yes, I am learning to be thankful for this, too. It is all part of the little hurt to avoid the later giant hurt.

Let us set our resolve. The next time we suffer any kind of spiritual abrasion, incision, laceration, or puncture, we are going to face the cleansing and medicating process with determination. For we know that only good can result. God is trying to teach us how to refuse to be defeated by life’s pains, and we are determined to benefit from each experience so that when all is said and done and the last hurt has been healed, we will have a place in that new world where “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9)

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