Branden Campbell, one of the pastors at Rolling Hills Community Church, talked last Sunday about the hole that is made when you remove a nail. I was reminded of Romans 8:28. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
When my father died it was like a knife in my heart. I was already going through tough personal times. A string of events pushed me first against the ropes and then to the floor. It was a time of intense introspection and reassessment of what I was doing and where I was going.
There was neither relief nor comfort from my occult associations. My astrological alignment was knocked out of its orbit and I realized putting my hope in the occult, or any person, was just plain stupid. Turning around and retracing my steps got me off that slippery and descending path. I removed the nail I had placed in my Christian faith.
When my friend Tom died the hole was deep and wide, but one of the biggest holes in my heart came when my mother died. Death is a hard, sharp nail, but most of the nail holes we all bare are self-inflicted.
Jesus said we will have trouble in this life and we do. The nails, self-inflicted and otherwise, can come fast and furious, leaving us punctured, pierced and penniless. Perspectives and attitudes can be enlarged and clarified when we are stripped of the taken-for-granted supports of family, friends, health, miss-assumed identity, and resources.
Christ stands at the door of our heart and knocks, but it is our choice whether we open the door or leave it closed. Much of the world's agony and sorrow has not been redeemed, because doors were not opened to God. Instead the holes have been filled with seemingly controlled anger, simmering bitterness and stewing revenge and we wonder why things get uglier and uglier.
If we believe, receive, and trust the truth of Romans 8:28, then God will fill our nail holes and redeem our pain and sorrow with healing. Does healing remove the consequences? Did Jesus suffer the consequences for our sins? Does healing remove the scars? Did Thomas put his hand in the holes in Jesus' flesh?
Christ's healing is redemptive. "What does redemption look like?" Redemption looks like mercy, compassion and understanding for the pain and sorrow of others. When the holes are filled with Christ the broken and wounded can come alongside others just like themselves, and use their Christ filled holes to bring life to someone else.
We are told we must die to really live. Life's biggest tragedy is not that we will all die. It is that we will not all choose to live.
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