Horrid thoughts of the human body being violated by knife or sword in incidents of crime or war, can quickly become dreadfully unsettling, but have you ever heard the term “going under the knife” to describe someone who is having surgery? I have read in awe of the surgeon’s scalpel being used to skillfully and carefully glide through the epidermis, the dermis, the hypodermis, and finally the deepest muscles and sinew, to expose bones or organs in regions of the body otherwise unseen. Even here I find it necessary to remind myself that surgery is intended to help the patient.
There is an interesting verse in the Bible that, in spite of its intimations of carnage, is intended to remind us of helpful, though invasive, surgery. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)”
The Word of God is alive—endued with the power of God, and like a two edged sword, is capable of penetrating to the deep recesses of our being, getting to the root of a problem, extracting that which is only harmful, to bolster that which is only good. This incision is not physical, it is surgery on the soul (the psyche, that which animates the body), and the spirit (the eternal part of man that relates to God). …and the Surgeon’s task is to correct how we think, and adjust our deeply rooted, but sometimes ill advised, motives.
Let it suffice to say that the Word of God, the Bible, can affect or repair every aspect of your non-physical, non-material life. The apostle Paul reminds us that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2Timothy 3:16)” But so many have ignored their great spiritual need, and have shunned the only serious help for their ailing souls. They limp along through life, in terror of going “under the knife,” even though it rests in the hand of our skillful, loving, Great Physician, Jesus Christ.