Slivers

Dave Johnston

Blogg  March 19, 2008

Removing the Slivers of Life

         


I was cleaning off my fireplace mantel about a month ago and I got a sliver in the palm of my left hand. It went in pretty deep and disappeared. I couldn’t’ get it out, so I decided to just leave it. That was a mistake! It was a bit painful for a few weeks but I didn’t really notice it. Then after about a month I knew I was in trouble. The palm of my hand swelled up and became red and very sensitive to touch. I knew I had a small infection under my skin. I felt really stupid for not trying to get the sliver out right way when it happened. But even at this point I didn’t do anything. I thought it would be too painful to remove so I just let it stay there for a couple more days experiencing pain every time I touched something with the palm of my hand. Finally I knew that I had to act! I got out a needle and sterilized it and began to cut away at the palm of my hand. It was much easier than I thought it would be to and in no time I had removed a ½ inch sliver from my palm. I put some antiseptic on it and bandaged it up. Within several days it was completely healed up! End of story.

It occurred to me as I was going through this little painful adventure that unconfessed sin in my life is like a sliver that I allow to remain in my heart. I think it is just a little sin…jealousy, pride, lust, hatred, bitterness…and that it will be perfectly OK if I just allow that “little” sin to remain. But Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” At the same time the sliver was in my palm I had a sin issue in my heart that I allowed to remain and fester. It wasn’t huge, but it was impacting my relationship with God and with others. When I got out the needle and extracted it from my heart (confessed it to God – I John 1:9) God cleansed me and healed me and my relationship with God was restored. It occurred to me afterwards that just as it was really stupid for me not to remove the sliver right away because I thought it would be too painful to remove…so I held onto my sin issue for stupid reasons.

This week is Easter week. Remove the slivers of sin from your heart and bath in God’s love, forgiveness and mercy that He freely offers you today in His Son Jesus!

“Through Jesus forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" - Acts 13:38-39