The knife that wounds is the knife that heals when wielded with the mastery of the Divine Physician. With precision and grace He opens us, uncovering the pain and disease in most need of curing.
The difficult truth we refuse to face about ourselves is itself the cross God asks us to bear, because He knows this truth alone will set us free. And so God comes to us with the sweetest, yet severest mercy – an act of supreme charity for the one He loves.
And we, we spend our whole lives running away from the truth and wasting away in fear at what it might bring. We limp and hide like the lame and the disfigured, the truly lucky ones because they know their condition. Oh, we suspect – we vaguely know – something’s not right with us, but we go on living a half-life rather than face the truth. And that is how we would mark our days to a miserable end if it weren’t for our caring Redeemer, who rescues us from our psychological and spiritual impasse.
God shakes us from our quietism, demolishes our pride and egotism, and dares those hiding to come out and shine. He strips us naked – taking away all our usual props – and then invites us to walk on water.
What we perceive as our enemy is most often God confronting us through people and events. He is the unstoppable principle of growth and life. And life will have its way. Just as the acorn splits undetected beneath the ground and gives way to a mighty oak, so God’s life force builds within and finally bursts upon us, driving us to new growth. We fight it at our own extreme discomfort and peril.
For, if we turn away from growth, we bring upon ourselves a most unbearable, sad life – one that’s far worse than the one rejected.
In the end, it’s not about being right or being embarrassed about being wrong – two sides of the same coin destined for devaluation. It’s about latching onto the truth and riding it to the heights with all the determination we can muster. And living in the truth is worth giving up every coin that bears a false image of ourselves.
For he who loses himself for Christ’s sake will find and experience his true self in the Creator’s love forever.