I am a wounded man. I got this way because I live in a world that often promotes violence instead of virtue. A bullet of unkindness or greed or self-interest struck me one day as I walked down the street, and I’ve been carrying that wound for a long time. What I fail to remember is that there is a way back to the me that God wove together in my mother’s womb. If I make an appointment to see the doctor, the agent of all curing, she or he can treat my wound and set me on a course of recovery and renewal. The “badness” that I carry has nothing to do with my birth; it is neither inherent nor inherited. A good God makes good things. The God of the Christian faith cannot do otherwise. But, longing for relationships of trust and love, God opened up a clinic for the human soul. The lead physician in the clinic was given the authority and the means to treat wounds and restore health. He treats everyone who knocks on the door, provides the healing antidote to woundedness, and charges nothing for his service except a commitment to follow the treatmement plan. The recovery rate is astounding.
The concept of original badness at the hand of an all-loving God is a way to explain why bad people exist and why bad things happen to good people. Those things happen, not because my nature is bad, but because I am among the walking wounded. The Doctor at the clinic treats the wound and returns us to wholeness. “Once wounded, always wounded?” No, not if you keep your clinic appointments. Is it possible to be wounded more than once? Yes, but people who value health stay away from places and circumstances that cause the wounds. If you’re “asking for trouble” you’ll usually find it. Is there a limit to the times you can make an appointment with the Doctor. He publicizes that he is on call around the clock. This remarkable “Good Physician” does not do human nature transplants. He restores health! He binds up wounds, gives you a prescription and says: You’re going to feel like a brand new person, but truthfully you are going to be restored to the original you. And that, dear patient, is as good as it gets.
Think on this: If you are worried about protecting your human nature from the wiles of the wicked, then every morning you need to pick up your armor and be ready to do battle. Fine thing to do. Or, if your heart hurts for the wounded, pick up your bowl and towel and go find the pain. And while you are binding up wounds, show people your own wounds that have been healed. Tell them about the clinic and the Great Physician who always takes new patients. Your world is full of the walking wounded in search of a good doctor. Spread the word!
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