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Spiritual Surgery
Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane was the chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City. He had practiced his specialty for 37 years by 1921. He was convinced that people should be operated on with a well administered local anesthesia so that all of the risks of general anesthesia could be bypassed. He was anxious to prove his theory. The problem was finding a guinea pig willing to go under the knife, but willing to be awake during surgery. All that he talked to were fearful that their bodies might wake up and feel the pain of the deep, probing scalpel during surgery. But finally, he found a subject and scheduled him for an appendectomy. Kane had performed at least 4,000 appendectomies during his career. The patient was prepped and brought into the operating room. The local anesthesia was carefully administered and surgery begun. As Dr. Kane had done so often, he made a cut across the narrow section of the right side of the abdomen, and went in. He tied off the blood vessels, found the appendix, excised it, and finished with a nice simple work of suturing. Remarkably the patient felt very little discomfort. In fact, he was up and about the next afternoon, a remarkable event because people recovering from appendectomies were kept in the hospital for six to eight days. It was a milestone in the world of medicine. And it was also a milestone in courage because the patient and the doctor were one and the same. Dr. Kane had operated on himself. It is a courageous thing to explore ones own heart with the scalpel of God’s Word. The Bible is a two edged sword, working to reveal man’s sin and also working to strengthen the inner man. I have heard husbands and wives tell me that after many years of marriage he or she had never heard the other say they had been wrong. There is a kind of surgery that can only be done by using the Word of God on oneself through the assistance of the Spirit of God. You will need to be courageous, because it is an act of courage to say to God and to those you are responsible to, I am or was wrong. You can be sure that will happen to those who regularly and courageously explore their values alongside their life style. Paul commanded that believers examine themselves before participating in communion. (1 Cor. 11:28) What should one examine? Not what one believes. The Corinthians were orthodox for the most part. Their problem wasn’t what they believed. It was their way of life. They allowed and nurtured inner sins like greed, selfishness, and covetousness all the while testifying to the sufficiency of Christ’s death for sin. They nuzzled up to internal invisible sins while celebrating Christ’s victory over sin at the cross. Christ died to separate His children from sin. Communion celebrates that fact. If one is to be truthful, one has to adopt Christ’s disposition toward sin. One must not only detest it in others, but in him or herself. He must become a partner with Christ by removing sin, even sins that are not readily seen by others. The Corinthians were judged both individually and as a congregation because they did not reflect their theology in their lifestyles. Self examination demands that one finds all areas of sin that do not fit one’s theology of holy living and confess each one as sin. That is courageous, but necessary.

Spiritual Surgery

     Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane was the chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City. He had practiced his specialty for 37 years by 1921. He was convinced that people should be operated on with a well administered local anesthesia so that all of the risks of general anesthesia could be bypassed.
     He was anxious to prove his theory. The problem was finding a guinea pig willing to go under the knife, but willing to be awake during surgery. All that he talked to were fearful that their bodies might wake up and feel the pain of the deep, probing scalpel during surgery.
     But finally, he found a subject and scheduled him for an appendectomy. Kane had performed at least 4,000 appendectomies during his career. The patient was prepped and brought into the operating room. The local anesthesia was carefully administered and surgery begun. As Dr. Kane had done so often, he made a cut across the narrow section of the right side of the abdomen, and went in. He tied off the blood vessels, found the appendix, excised it, and finished with a nice simple work of suturing.
     Remarkably the patient felt very little discomfort. In fact, he was up and about the next afternoon, a remarkable event because people recovering from appendectomies were kept in the hospital for six to eight days.
     It was a milestone in the world of medicine. And it was also a milestone in courage because the patient and the doctor were one and the same. Dr. Kane had operated on himself.
     It is a courageous thing to explore ones own heart with the scalpel of God’s Word. The Bible is a two edged sword, working to reveal man’s sin and also working to strengthen the inner man.
     I have heard husbands and wives tell me that after many years of marriage he or she had never heard the other say they had been wrong. There is a kind of surgery that can only be done by using the Word of God on oneself through the assistance of the Spirit of God. You will need to be courageous, because it is an act of courage to say to God and to those you are responsible to, I am or was wrong. You can be sure that will happen to those who regularly and courageously explore their values alongside their life style.
     Paul commanded that believers examine themselves before participating in communion. (1 Cor. 11:28) What should one examine? Not what one believes. The Corinthians were orthodox for the most part. Their problem wasn’t what they believed. It was their way of life. They allowed and nurtured inner sins like greed, selfishness, and covetousness all the while testifying to the sufficiency of Christ’s death for sin. They nuzzled up to internal invisible sins while celebrating Christ’s victory over sin at the cross. Christ died to separate His children from sin. Communion celebrates that fact. If one is to be truthful, one has to adopt Christ’s disposition toward sin. One must not only detest it in others, but in him or herself. He must become a partner with Christ by removing sin, even sins that are not readily seen by others.
     The Corinthians were judged both individually and as a congregation because they did not reflect their theology in their lifestyles. Self examination demands that one finds all areas of sin that do not fit one’s theology of holy living and confess each one as sin. That is courageous, but necessary.