Flesh Eating Disease

I woke up this morning to a painful, throbbing mass on my left cheek. I went into the bathroom expecting to see a quarter embedded in my jaw but instead I saw a flesh colored circle with a red center on my cheek. My first thought was, I had contracted some type on infection from the nursing home and then my mind switched thoughts to one of my biggest fears: spiders. MRSA scared me less than the thought of a spider on my face in the middle of the night leaving behind his venom and little spider eggs. I went downstairs for coffee and a second opinion (and a scalpel) and as expected, my coffee was already brewed but unexpectedly my second opinion told me true stories about parasites and amoebas making their homes under the skin of humans. Not even a half awake brain and a good cup of coffee could keep my head from itching and my palms from sweating. Before 9:00 AM this morning, I was convinced I had a flesh eating disease. Ok, I didn’t really think I had a flesh eating disease but I did have to pray the entire way to my hair appointment because I knew the only hope I had of convincing myself that my flesh was free of creatures and spider eggs was Jesus and His blood that heals my body completely. (I will admit that I did do some research on parasites, MRSA, amoebas, and most importantly spider bites when I got home this evening.)

I have been obsessively checking the size of my new facial growth all day. If it wouldn’t draw more attention to the quarter size growth on my face, I would outline it in pen so I could have a subjective way to track its growth. (Not everything I learned in PT school was a waste) My so called flesh eating disease has been rebuked many times today. (And been the center of many jokes from my beloved friends) Hopefully it is obvious that I want no part of this “flesh eating disease” but how many times have I wanted no part of Jesus and His flesh eating disease. Jesus doesn’t contaminate our lives but He does come in and remove the thorns of our flesh. God gives us the Spirit who works and prays for us and will eventually liberate us from the failures, weaknesses, and temptations that separate us from Him. He will come in and eat away all of our impurities, imperfections, and our sins. If we don’t let Jesus eat away our sinful nature and our mere ability to be human; we will never be able to transform ourselves into His image. We will never be able to withstand the devils schemes.  We are more aware of our weaknesses and our failures than anyone else but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we have the ability to change our weaknesses and our failures. And that is why we need Jesus’ flesh eating abilities. We need Him to permanently remove everything that makes us weak in Him; everything that destroys all of our attempts to stand strong in our faith. Are you thankful for Jesus and His flesh eating abilities or are you constantly checking the mirror to see if your imperfections are getting bigger? When a parasite invades your body, you become weak and after so long your ability to sustain yourself disappears. You are forced to rely on medical treatment until the parasite has been successfully removed from your body. If you aren’t relying on Jesus to sustain you; then you haven’t allowed Him to make you perfect in your weakness. You haven’t allowed your ability to sustain yourself disappear. And you definitely haven’t experienced the freedom that He has for you.

Tonight, I won’t take a pen and draw a circle around my “flesh eating disease” and I won’t sleep as well as I would like because I will have the vision of thousands of tiny spiders crawling out of my cheeks but I will have a talk with Jesus before I go to bed. And during our talk I will give Him my imperfections and my weaknesses and allow Him to eat away everything that he desires. I will even thank Him for my friends who take delight in making my amoeba (or sebaceous cyst) the entertainment for the day.

Verse to remember: 

Galatians 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans Chapter 8