I am crooked on the inside.
You read that right: I am crooked on the inside.
I don’t mean just in some metaphorical sense. I have genuine photographic evidence.
See, I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my hip and knee off and on for a few months now. So I went to a chiroprator to find out if he could help, well, straighten things out. The first thing he did was take an x-ray. There, staring back at me from this lovely light box was the source of my trouble: the sharp turn my spine takes in the middle of my back.
Oh, this wasn’t really news to me. I wore a brace for several years (from junior high to high school, if you can imagine the horror!). But as an adult, it really hasn’t been something I think a lot about. It might give me trouble when they try to line me up for the mammogram machine and my purse won’t stay on my left shoulder, but other than that, it’s just part of how I am.
But I talked with my family doctor about it last week, and she said it could one day lead to lung trouble as my body could slowly collapse in on itself.
Gulp.
Let’s be honest, that did momentarily freak me out, and I now have a super great reason to build core strength and lose some excess weight.
But this whole scenario got me thinking, I’m naturally crooked on the inside spiritually, too.
And so are you.
It’s not a stretch to say we all have little things that we have carried around inside us. Things that won’t show up on an x-ray.
I can be selfish.
I can be self-centered.
I can be so unkind and quick to judge.
I want things I don’t have, and then I’m not always grateful for the things I do have.
I’ve done worse things than what’s on that list.
These things, that the Bible tells us are sins, can be hidden inside — deeper than the bend in my spine. Maybe we worked on them in junior high or after that really good sermon we heard last week, but they may have just kind of receded into being part of who we are.
Except they may be making us collapse in on ourselves spiritually.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote our hearts are desperately wicked. That’s our natural state, the way we are when left to our own devices.
Thank God that He didn’t leave us to our own devices!!
He didn’t just leave us as messed up, crooked little things who have to sort ourselves out.
The truth of the Gospel is that even if we are only just the tiniest bit crooked, we are still so crooked that we can never straighten ourselves out. Romans 3:23 says that all of us have sinned and fall short of God’s standards. We are completely without hope outside of Jesus.
He knew that’s how we would be. But He came anyway—to make a way for us to have a restored relationship with God. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Why would He do that? Because, as John 3:16 tell us, God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus came to earth as God with us. He lived a sinless life, died as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again and now sits on His throne in Heaven where He is interceding for us!
He loved us in all of our crookedness, and when we put our faith in Him as Savior and Lord, He makes us new creations.
If Jesus has made your crooked places straight, that’s a wonderful thing to celebrate today, my friends! Share the Good News with someone else.
If you realize you’re still crooked on the inside, Jesus wants to help. He loves you and welcomes you into relationship with Him. You just have to ask Him to be your Lord and Savior by praying something like this:
Dear Heavenly Father, I realize I am crooked on the inside—that I am a sinner and that sin has separated me from You. I come to You in the name of Jesus who died for my sins asking you to make me new. Please forgive me and become my Lord and Savior. Help me to live a life that honors You. In Jesus’ name I pray., Amen.
