So I needed a gallbladder surgery. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? The doctor said get this done and not only will the pain go away but you’ll be preaching again in a week. Sounds great! Let’s do this thing!
However, once the doc got in to see my gallbladder his response was, “Nasty, Nasty, Nasty.” I won’t give you all the nasty details, but after taking out the big nasty there is still more nasty that must be addressed over the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to think that being a Christian is easy peasy lemon squeezy. The truth is there is a whole lot of nasty that needs to be dealt with.
One nasty would be that of the world – as in the world system of values which is contrary to God. As Christians we still live in this world but we must be separate from it, not necessarily physically, but in what we value, what we prioritize, what we spend our time and money on and what things we will pursue. This is hard. The world is all around us. We hear it’s message everywhere. Unless we have convictions based on biblical revelation we will easily get sucked into the under current of the world. There is some serious surgery that must be done in this part of our life.
Speaking of surgery, another nasty we must deal with is our flesh. Our flesh would refer to our inner, natural desires, lusts, and passions. We carry these with us everywhere we go. We are told to be cutting off and putting to death the desires of the flesh. We are to be replacing these fleshly desires with holy ones which, again, come from convictions based on biblical revelation and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This process can be very painful and involves sincere confession and repentance, but it must be done.
The last nasty is Satan himself. The devil, known as the serpent of old, is still active tempting people today. He’s the mastermind behind the world system and he knows your fleshly desires and how to stir them up. Satan’s influence must be dealt with again through convictions based on biblical revelation where we not only become wise to his schemes but our faith is strengthened to resist him.
Those who take the easy peasy lemon squeezy approach to Christianity will not submit themselves to the surgical knife of the Word and therefore will not know victory or fruitfulness in their walk with the Lord and cannot even have the full assurance of salvation.
This is why the church is so important. Not only as a place where we can be strengthened in the Word but where the Word can do its surgical work in our lives. We need fellowship not only so we can encourage each but where we can surgically admonish one another.
I am thankful for Believers Fellowship and praying that we might all come alongside one another to deal with the nasty and replace it with the pure.
This gallbladder surgery was really the first surgery of my life but I am thankful I have had it. Not only because of present issues that are being addressed but futures issues are being eliminated. Thankful, most of all, for the ongoing work of the Great Physician in my life.
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