I am scheduled to have foot surgery next week. I’ve been putting it off or a while now. I recall the words of a good surgeon who said, “There is nothing that surgery can’t make worse.” So I have waited until it got to the point that I had to do something.

The problem is that I have a toe that is shaped like a question mark. Seriously. They refer to it as, “hammer toe.”

I’ll spare you the details of what the doctor says he is going to do. I kind of wish he hadn’t told me. But the hope is that I will walk without pain and be able to wear shoes that I haven’t worn in three years.

The idea of having surgery is simply not pleasant. If you can do anything else at all, then do it. And yet there comes that point when surgery is the best option. It is the one thing that will alleviate the problem.

Th s also applies to our spiritual lives. There are things in my life that I have been holding onto, keeping hidden, and yet these very things cause me pain. I may hide it well from others, but they are still present and they are hurting me.

I’ve been preaching through the book of Ephesians this year and recently dealt with this verse in chapter 4: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.”

And immediately Paul followed that up with these words: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Paul is reminding us that God wants us to be kind, to love and to forgive. And in order to do that, we have to put certain things away. Just as the surgeon needs to remove certain problems from my body, so God wants to remove such things from my heart.

Surgery is never fun. And yet it may be the only option. And in the same way, getting rid of my old way of living may make me uncomfortable. In fact, it may hurt. And yet there is healing to come.

I need to trust the Lord to do what is best for me. And so do you. I pray that we will allow the Lord to remove that which is harmful so that we might live for his honor and glory at all times.