“On the day the Lord binds up the fracture of his people.” (Isaiah 30:26)
There I stood at the top of the hill with my trusty bike. All of ten years old, I began double dog daring myself to ride down the decline, littered with jutting roots from the trees that dotted the descending slope. It did not take long for me to take the dare. I backed my bike up, climbed on and got a running start, riding as fast as the wind down the steep mount. I think I was about halfway down when the tree roots won the race, and my bike and I went flying into the air. The bike landed about three feet from my head. I landed on my hand, which was throbbing in pain. The doctor said I had fractured it, causing me to spend the next couple of months in a cast – no swimming, and no bike riding for the remainder of my summer vacation. I did, however have a pretty pink cast on my hand that year.
Over the years the bone in my hand has healed. Healing is what fractured bones do. I understand there are 206 bones in the human body, and every one of them has the potential to be broken. But they also they have the potential to be repaired. When you think about it, a lot of things in life that are fractured can be repaired. Marriages, diseases, relationships; thanks to doctors, psychologists, and physical therapists. Even a broken heart can be healed over time. But there is one thing in the human body that once fractured, cannot be repaired by any medical treatment, procedure, or personnel. No surgery can repair this fractured part of us. And yet, the sad part is that every person has this fracture within them. It is the fracture of the human soul. Human souls become fractured by sin.
Our fractured souls damage ourselves and others. Our fractured souls take what is not ours. Our fractured souls abuse other people and things. Our fractured souls murder. Our fractured souls lie. Our fractured souls are full of sin. Sadly, we cannot put a cast or brace on a fractured soul in order to heal it. No medication, ointment, or prescription of pills can heal a fractured soul. Fractured souls need to be made new; not repaired, reconditioned, or rehabilitated. And the only one who can make new souls is Jesus Christ, because he is the only one who can touch the human soul. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). New souls take time to grow and develop. That is why Christ is always working in our lives. He is purging out the old so that he can create the new.
Thanks to my doctor and my pretty pink cast, my broken bone healed when I was ten years old. When I was twenty-four years old, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and he began working in me to give me a new soul. And Christ is still working on my soul, as he is yours. That is why it is important that we yield to his work. We cannot be new creations if everything stays the same.
Darlene