Just Below The Surface!

M

y first “real job” was as an attendant in one of our local hospitals.  I was assigned to the department of radiology where I learned not only how to wait on patients but also quite a bit about the inner workings of the human body.  Making an x-ray was an interesting process, one that was much more involved and much more revealing than I had previously thought.

Although I had had my share of x-rays, I had never seen the “other side” of the process.  Patients would come into our department from different floors of the hospital or from the emergency room.  Before their arrival, our computers had alerted us to the type of x-ray ordered by their physicians.  After receiving the order, one of our technicians would perform the test.  The patient was escorted into the room, placed on a table, given a set of instructions, and the x-ray was taken.  In a few minutes, the film was developed and the patient was dismissed.  This is where the process became very interesting.

Once the film was developed, the x-ray was taken to one of the radiologists.  It was his job to determine anything abnormal about the x-ray.  I have been in the office several times as films were being read and I never ceased to be amazed at how quickly and how accurately the trained eye could focus in on a particular area, find the problem, and suggest a solution.  To me, all the films looked the same.  They all had black backgrounds with white bones and gray organs on them.  But to the radiologist, they were a road map to any potential problems facing the patient in question.

What the radiologist is to the x-ray, God is to the human heart.  His eyes see everything within us and He knows just where our problems lie.  To the world outside, everything may seem fine.  We look good, we sound good, and there is no indication that anything is wrong.  But when we submit ourselves to God’s x-ray table, when we allow Him to examine our inmost parts, when we ask Him to examine us to see the area of difficulty in our lives, then we give Him full access to who and what we really are. 

The eyes of God are more accurate and more probing than the eyes of any radiologist or x-ray machine.  Jeremiah 17:10 reminds us of this fact, “I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." At fist glance, we want to shrink away from this sobering passage of scripture. Our first reaction is to run because we don’t want God to know what is in our hearts or in our minds.  But He does know.  God’s knowledge of mankind is not dependent upon our willingness or unwillingness to open our hearts to Him.  He made us and therefore knows us better than we know ourselves.  But I believe there is great comfort in this scripture as well.

The job of the radiologist is to locate any abnormalities or life-threatening diseases so the patient can be cured.  Without the intervention of the physician, the patient will never get well.  The x-ray is necessary because the problem is on the inside, hidden from sight.  The x-ray provides a deep and exhaustive look so that the problem area can no longer remain hidden.  Now apply this to the human heart.  God is far more interested in us than a radiologist is in a patient’s x-ray.  Unlike the radiologist, who does not know the patient, God knows all about us and loves us.  He sees the sin in our hearts and the influence it has on our minds.  He knows where to look, He knows how to find the problem, and He knows how to fix it. 

T

he radiologist can only “suggest” a course of treatment for the patient.  God doesn’t “suggest” a course of treatment, He has the cure.  The coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death is the cure for our sin.  We can be cured from this terrible condition but we must ask Jesus to come into our hearts and remove the sin that is there.  Unless a patient comes to the hospital, there can be no examination and no method of treatment.  Unless we come to God and ask Him to examine us we can never be cured and cleansed from our sins.  How long has it been since you visited God’s department of radiology?  Don’t you think it’s time you made an appointment?