Bandages Don’t Kill Germs

When I was a child and had the occasional bad scrape or cut I wanted my mom to put a bandage on it. That’s all I wanted.  However, she would inside on examining the wound and inevitably, she would want to clean it out.  I didn’t want it cleaned out because cleaning out the wound was painful. I just wanted her to put a bandage on it.  What I didn’t understand was that the bandage wouldn’t kill the germs or prevent further damage from happening from the inside.  The bandage would protect the wound from the outside but that wasn’t the main problem.  I wanted to take a closer look at verse 23 of Colossians 2.  Here it is:  ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”  The “things” that Paul is referring to are man-made rules/regulations/rituals that we devise to fix spiritual problems such as sin.  “Don’t watch this or don’t go there…or do this”  These things have an appearance of wisdom; and certainly, if you are an alcoholic there is no need to go to a bar and sit; enduring temptation unnecessarily.  But these “things” are like bandages.  They don’t really deal with the problem, the inside problem of sin.  The only way to deal with the real infection is to work on it from the inside…but you and I are not able to work on it from the inside; only God can do that.  Will you allow yourself to be placed on the divine operating table, with the scalpel of God’s word and the skillful work of the Holy Spirit?  Yes, it will almost always be initially more painful than applying a spiritual bandage; but it will always be more effective as well.