I Am the Patient

I am the patient, and God is the surgeon. As a Christian, it would be helpful to remember this. God is always working on us to help us mature and grow so that we can be more like his son.

How difficult that is for us to remember. Several years ago, at the Bible School in Argentina, I drove a student who had injured himself to the ER. He was breaking up concrete and hit himself in the forehead with the sledgehammer. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, and he was putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding. I rushed him to the hospital. Standing before the admittance clerk, I will never forget her question, “Which of you is the patient?” It seemed apparent to us as Martin held up his hand. The blood on his face was a pretty big clue, but not to this person. In the same way, we who have so many imperfections and shortcomings would naturally think I am the patient and God is the surgeon, but how often do we forget.

When the Apostle Paul wrote the Romans, he expressed frustration with his inability to do the right thing at the right time. He said he could will himself to do the correct thing and then not do it. Likewise, he would decide not to do the bad and then do it. Paul is expressing his thoughts about the sinful nature that is a part of all of us, and without God’s help, we will not be who we should be (Rom 7:15-20).

Paul wanted to see maturity in his own life and the lives of the believers of the churches he had established. He wanted them to grow and mature. Because the Apostle Paul wants so much to see maturity in the believers of the churches he has established, he encourages them to grow and mature: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” Eph 4:15.

The Apostle knew we all struggle with sin; sometimes, some don’t win. He was insistent that the believers in Ephesus stop living the sinful life. There must be a different way of thinking and living for the believer. He knew that to live as the world lives is futile, and if we think the way they do, we will become calloused with hard hearts and never experience any positive changes. There needs to be a transformational change in how we think if we will live differently. The answer lies in surrendering to God’s will and always remembering, “I am the patient, and God is the surgeon.”