Luke 4:18-10 KJV
We've all had bruises. You whack your knee on the desk, your toe on the furniture, the back of your hand on whatever you're flying by at the moment, and you're the proud owner of a bruise. After a particularly nasty bruise-inducing event, some people will even ask, "Wanna see my bruise?"
I did a little research on bruises and unless you're in the medical field, would you ever guess that the following is the explanation/definition of a bruise? It sounds absolutely dreadful! Life-threatening... Here's what I found:
"a type of relatively minor hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding interstitial tissues. The damaged capillary endothelium releases endothelin, a hormone that causes narrowing of the blood vessel to minimize bleeding. As the endothelium is destroyed, the underlying von Willebrand factor is exposed and initiates coagulation, which creates a temporary clot to plug the wound and eventually leads to restoration of normal tissue. During this time, larger tissue hematomas may change color due to the breakdown of hemoglobin from within escaped red blood cells in the extracellular space. The striking colors are caused by the phagocytosis and sequential degradation of hemoglobin to billverdin to billrubin to hemosiderin..."Even if I added this - with hemoglobin itself producing a red-blue color, biliverdin producing a green color, bilirubin producing a yellow color, and hemosiderin producing a brown color - it would be difficult to determine, wouldn't it?
We may chuckle at the thought of "Wanna see my bruise?" and yet, we all know people who do that. In reality, bruises can be dangerous - depending on how they happened, how deep they are, how badly the tissue was damaged, and the resulting pressure in the surrounding tissue because of the trauma. In my research, I learned bruises are rated 0-5 - rather like a hurricane or tornado. One rated a 4 or 5 can be fatal, especially if left untreated. The combined treatment for a bruise is Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
How many people do we know who have bruised hearts? Some never say a word about it; others ask something akin to "Wanna see my bruise?" (See the evidence of the "battle" I've been in?) These are potentially fatal if they never get relief from their pain. They usually will ice it, thinking that is enough, but left untreated, all they get is cold-hearted. They don't rest in the Lord. They don't go to Christ so He can bind up their broken heart (compression). They never take it to the Cross (elevate the injury). The last thing we want is for them to throw a clot and die because they are hiding their pain.
If you can't see it, how can you tell if someone has a life-threatening bruise? The evidence is there. Just like a bruise - the colors are telltale. Look for them. Do you see the red-blue of the bleeding heart? How about the green of jealousy? The yellow of fear? Or the brown indicating the last vestiges of hope? Let's get them to the Master Physician, Jehovah Rapha, our Healer. A bruised reed He will not break. He specializes in mending the broken-hearted.
Prayer:
Father,
Thank You for all that You are. Give us wisdom to understand it. Create in us Your heart of compassion. Help us to see with Your eyes. Let Your love shine through us like a beacon of hope for those searching for the Truth of who You are. In Jesus' Name we pray.
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