Topics: Depravity; Faults; Final Judgment; Guilt; Redemption; Sin; Sinful Nature
References: Matthew 5:30; 10:28; 25:34; Mark 9:43; 2 Corinthians 5:10
After several months of pain in my right thumb, I went to a hand specialist. As the doctor examined my hand, a nurse stood by with a clipboard. The doctor looked closely at my hand, said, “Atrophy,” and then, “No.” The nurse wrote on her clipboard. He named something else—an acronym like CLJ—then again said, “No,” and the nurse wrote on her clipboard.
I realized he was proceeding through a checklist of possible problems with my hand. As he named the next item on the checklist, I found myself hoping, wishing, that he would again say no.
I want my thumb to be free from pain. In the months prior to this appointment I had begun curtailing my use of the thumb to see if that would bring it back to normal. When typing on the keyboard, for example, I started using my left thumb to hit the space bar instead of my right, thinking that perhaps I had a repetitive motion injury. I was careful how I turned the key in the car ignition. I stopped shaking hands with my right hand. I was careful not to open bottles with my right hand. And so on.
Each time the doctor said no I felt relief. He named another item on the checklist, and again he said no. After seven nos, he sent me for X-rays. Minutes later the doctor showed me the film and said, “Here is the problem.” The ligament on one side of my joint had stretched, and the thumb had gotten out of alignment. He described treatments but implied the situation might not get better. That was not what I wanted to hear.
As I thought later about this experience in the doctor’s office, I couldn’t get over the visceral yearning I had, as the doctor went through his checklist, to hear him find no fault in my hand. If that yearning is so strong regarding my hand, which I will be using for a limited number of years on earth, how much more should I yearn for a good report when I stand before the one who judges my soul?
—Craig Brian Larson, Arlington Heights, Illinois