Pastor's Corner
RECOVERY
Keith E. Murray, Pastor, Blanch Baptist Church
[This article was originally published in the Caswell Messenger on January 18th, 2017.]
“Write about what you KNOW—not what you don’t know.” I can still hear the advice of my college writing professor, trying to steer his earnest but novice pupils away from the romantic idea of writing “The Great American Novel”, taking place in Zanzibar (a place we knew nothing about) or among the higher-ups of cold-war Soviet intelligence officers (people we knew nothing about), as our first classroom assignment. He was right—it was, and is, good advice: if you are going to write, write about what you know.
What I personally know the most about right now is RECOVERY. I’m recovering from total knee replacement surgery which took place right before Christmas. Yes, “recovery” is the clear winner as this column’s theme: Recovery of Body, Soul, and Spirit. Indeed, it could be argued that “recovery” is the ultimate theme of God’s relationship with mankind; the Gospel is all about the recovering of a lost, sinful human race into God’s family, due to His Infinite Love. More about the spiritual observations later.
Recovery—whether physical/medical (my knee, for example—the “body”), emotional/psychological (the “soul”) or spiritual (the “spirit”) may be seen in three realms—three tenses, actually: PRE- (past tense), PRESENT, and POST- (future tense). I will deal only with the physical/medical aspects first, and then expand into the spiritual realm later in this column.
PRE-. There must be some past wound, sickness, deformity, or other problem (medically-speaking) or else recovery is not needed. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Also, if there is a need, there must also be a desire—or even just a willingness—on the part of the patient before recovery can take place. I had to sign a pile of forms before my knee surgery could even be scheduled. There must be an understanding of the cost involved: dollar-cost, time-cost, and other costs associated with major surgery. My surgeon made me well-aware of the costs, and at one point I almost backed out due to fear. Thankfully, I chose to “count the cost,” move ahead by faith, and continue in the pre-surgical process.
PRESENT. Right about now, my “present” is three words: PAIN, THERAPY and DEPENDENCY.
PAIN: My surgeon did not mince words: “Once the anesthesia wears off,” he said, “you’ll hurt like h----!” He was right. The pain is easing now, and the pain meds help a lot—until…
THERAPY: The old adage, “No pain—no gain” is especially real to me right now. My knee is brand-new (handcrafted in Switzerland just to fit my leg!), but all the 66-year-old muscles and tendons surrounding it are rebelling—snarling back at me, if you will—due to the trauma I put them through (and without even consulting them!) They are weak, and painful. They will get their way, and atrophy, if I do not continually work them back into their prior state of useful-ness. That means therapy, and pain. I don’t “like” pain, but I’m beginning to see it as a good thing. I’m facing and appreciating the therapy “like a man” (by God’s Grace.)
DEPENDENCY: Beginning with all the nurses and attendants at the hospital, and continuing with my wonderful wife’s in-home care, I have to agree to be dependent. Pride has to be cast out, and gracious thanksgiving must take its place. That’s not always easy for me—for us—to do. We live in a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, multi-tasking world where our self-worth is (we think) measured best by our individual accomplishments. Dependency doesn’t fit into that equation, but it must if we wish to recover.
POST-. I’m looking forward to all the blessings of a brand-new left knee. Most folks who have gone before me in this venture agree that the end result—the POST-surgery and recovery blessings—are “worth it all”. I can already appreciate the increased stability that I inherently feel, and my wife observes that, even with the pain, I’m walking straighter, with less of a limp. I must still keep up with the therapy, but it’s becoming better now. I see “the light at the end of the tunnel”, praise the Lord!
Now, a few Spiritual/Biblical observations. As I noted before, the whole plan of God might be summed-up with the word RECOVERY. God is in the business of recovering his lost, sinful, sold-out-to-the-devil people. The same concepts of physical/medical recovery expressed above apply to Spiritual/Biblical recovery, too.
Spiritual recovery may be seen in three tenses, too: PRE- (past tense), PRESENT, and POST- (future tense).
PRE-. Again, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” But we ARE broken—and desperately need fixing. “All have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). So, since there is a need—we recognize the need for God’s “radical open-heart surgery”—there must also be a willingness for God to do it. We must be willing to accept HIS WAY: the only way (John 14:6). We must understand and receive His remedy for our lost, spiritually-sick situation, consent to the surgery, and receive His care: “To every one that receiveth Him, to them gave He the power to become the (children) of God.” (John 1:12). As with medical surgery, there must also be an understanding of the cost involved. Now, our salvation is by Grace, through Faith. Initially, it costs us nothing. “For by grace are ye saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves—not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God the Father paid the bill—by sending His Son to bear our punishment. However, to continue as his disciples, Jesus warns us to “count the cost” (see Luke 14:28-33.) The cost may range from martyrdom to mere inconvenience, but, contrary to the claims of some “prosperity gospel” preachers, there is a cost.
PRESENT. As with medical recovery, spiritual recovery involves: PAIN, THERAPY and DEPENDENCY.
PAIN: Allowing “Dr. Jesus” to do His radical surgery can result in pain. In fact, numerous times in the Bible, trials and pain is closely associated with joy. For example, James 1:2-4: “Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations….” and I Peter 1:6-7: “In this (salvation) ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials….” In short, “No pain—no gain!” applies to our spiritual recovery as well as our physical one.
THERAPY: Our therapy, once God has completed His initial surgery, is vitally-important. It is three-fold: Bible-study, Prayer, and Fellowship with other believers. Sometimes the therapy may seem inconvenient, or even painful, but it is essential. The best “therapy-center” is your local Bible-preaching, Spirit-filled church. If you don’t have one, get one. Feel free to call me if I may be of help.
DEPENDENCY: Christians are DEPENDENT people: dependent ultimately upon the Lord, and upon each other. There is no such thing as a (successful, recovering) “solitary Christian”!
POST-. The old Gospel song goes, “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.” Yes. What a joy awaits all of us who go through God’s “recovery process”!
I conclude this column with the Apostle Paul’s encouraging words in his second letter to the Corinthians: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (II Corinthians 4:16-17). Amen. May God richly bless you in your “recovery!”