Surgery
A doctor once revealed a great
secret of medicine: "surgery is nothing but a friendly attack with a
knife." Seen from that perspective, we might ask why people have
surgery at all. The answer is fairly obvious; we do it because the
alternatives are worse. In other words, the suffering we go through
to have the surgery gains us something. Sometimes that's a positive
gain (like having a baby) and sometimes it's negative (to get rid of
the tumor). Very occasionally we have a different reason for
surgery: love.
Permit me an example. A young
lady, suffering from cystic fibrosis, received the transplant of two
lobes of her lungs. The surgeons literally went in, removed one of
her lungs, and replaced it with the donor lung from her father. The
other lung transplant came from her sister. We can certainly see why
the recipient would want the operation; cystic fibrosis attacks the
lungs. But I think it is clear that her father and her sister had a
very different motive. Their motive for having this surgery was
quite different: love. Consider, then, that love is a cause which
may motivate you to suffer pain.
It is that motive of love of
the caused Christ to suffer on the Cross. It certainly could not be
characterized as a "friendly attack." It was in fact an execution
reserved for criminals. But there is no question about the
willingness of Jesus Christ to suffer that penalty. He prayed that
it might not happen that way. He asked his Father to relieve him of
this pain. The answer was no.
So then Christ suffered for us
out of obedience to the Father — and out of love for us. Permit me a
simple question: how do you think the girl who received the lung
transplants feels about her father and her sister? Undoubtedly there
is gratitude; more than that, there is a loving memory. She's not
going to say thank you just one time. It's going to be something
that is a permanent attitude for the rest of her life.
This brings us to the point:
just what is your permanent attitude towards Jesus Christ? It's a
question that comes up every time you take communion. You are told
to take it in a "worthy manner." Whatever else that might help
hearts this is mean, it certainly includes a confession of sin,
repentance and then gratitude for the Savior who will take you into
his heart, sins at all. Reflect on these things, and search your
heart to see if your attitude reflects his sacrifice.
