The Gospel hurts worse than having a leprous heart. I know that in the end it hurts far worse to have a heart deadened to God. But this side of redemption having a heart sensitive to the Spirit and fighting sin hurts. It hurts when the gospel rips idols out of my heart. It hurts when I am fully exposed. It hurts when the gospel will not allow me to hide (from God or neighbor). It hurts when the gospel makes me face things I would rather not. The gospel hurts.
Leprosy on the other hand—you don’t feel a thing. Of course this means that you are also deadened to beauty. You cannot really feel kisses. You cannot really feel a warm embrace. Sunsets are ignored. Food tastes bland. Life feels dull. But leprosy doesn’t hurt; or at least it doesn’t appear to at the moment.
So do I believe Jesus enough to let the gospel hurt? Or will I try to put on a leprous heart?
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This one was from the archives.
I wonder about ‘leprosy doesn’t hurt’ . . .
I know that feeling of numbness comes, but there are so very many other ways people are sadly impacted. This may help a little bit to explain it:
Anon,
I wouldnt stretch my analogy too far. Leprosy is horrible and I imagine that it comes with its fair share of “hurt”. My point here is that “numbing” seems better than the penetrating work of the gospel at times…but it’s obviously not better.