For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Hebrews 4:12)

The Bible teaches that there is an inner place in every human life that no scalpel can reach, no matter how skilled the surgeon or how sharp the knife.Externally, we are all made up of a body. We are flesh and blood; bone, muscle and tissue that is both tangible and visible. Within our bodies, however, is an intangible, invisible network of feelings and desires, impulses and urges. Woven into the fabric of our inner being are such things as a heart and a will, a soul and a spirit.

I am not convinced anyone has been able to untangle entirely the threads in the fabric, nevertheless, one of those inner threads we call the conscience. Although our conscience is fallen, flawed and not entirely reliable we all have one and we violate it every day.

Here is the problem. With skill and care a surgeon’s scalpel can slice through skin with precision and take out a malignant tumor. No knife, however, can reach inside us and clean the cancer out of a guilty conscience. The writer of Hebrews tells us that can only be accomplished by the hand of God. See you on Sunday.