Jesus Ran Out of Band-Aids!

Sometimes my heart hurts. A lot. As it does now. And I go to Jesus so He can open up His medicine cabinet to find me the right-sized band-aid that fits just perfectly over my heart. But Jesus doesn’t have any band-aids, in my size or any, and He doesn’t even have antibiotic ointment to spread over my wound I know better than to ask Jesus why He ran out of band-aids, and I know better than to ask Him for a band-aid at all. Because Jesus doesn’t keep band-aids in His medicine cabinet, and I learned the long, hard way that Jesus doesn’t use band-aids at all.

Long ago, in the depths of what would ultimately become decades of brokenness, I took my broken heart and broken life to the world and got myself all plastered up in band-aids. Everywhere I went, I looked for band-aids. And I got them. Band-aids from doctors, psychologists, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, self-help groups, 12-help groups, support groups, hospitals, medications, books, magazines, re-locations, and more.

I became a walking band-aid. And, deep below the “protective” covering of all the band-aids of all different shapes and sizes, my heart and life became infected. My life went septic. I became incapable of living a good, productive, healthy, successful, fulfilling life. I had gone to the world to fix me, and the world’s band-aids “protected” me just enough to keep putting one toe in front of another. Barely getting by. Broken beyond broken. Broken with band-aids.

Even when I met Jesus, I kept going to the world’s medicine cabinet. Oh, I fell in love with Jesus alright. But I was hooked on the world. I was sold out on the world. Surely the world had just one more band-aid, one more answer to my brokenness. But I only got covered up in more band-aids. As I desperately sank even deeper. The band-aids gave me temporary relief. But the brokenness worsened, the ache grew deeper, the pain grew harder, the hurt grew tougher, and the infection was out of control.

It took losing just about everything dear to me to realize that I was going to the wrong medicine cabinet for the wrong answer. And if you have ever seen a wound that is simply not healing because the band-aids are in all actuality preventing the healing, you understand. Sometimes wounds need to be left uncovered, not “protected”, and exposed to the air and the light for the necessary healing. In truth, I was so covered in the world’s band-aids that the Lord did not have access to me to do what only He could do. Heal my brokenness and make me whole.

Have you felt the pain of pulling off band-aids that are so stuck it seems they will never come off – not without pieces of your skin anyway? My band-aids seemed so stuck. But they had to come off. One by one, and sometimes in groups of band-aids. The bottom line? I had to let go of all my band-aids, and in some cases I needed help pulling them off. See, God had to get a hold of my heart and life. And He needed to get the world out of the way to do what He desired.

I have to confess I felt horrifyingly naked, exposed, desperate, and panic-stricken when the band-aids started to come off. After all, I had made a long-time investment, and had developed a long-time dependency, in the world’s band-aids. What would happen now? Actually, what would happen is what needed to happen all along.

See, Jesus doesn’t use band-aids to heal. Jesus uses love, and salvation, and mercy, and forgiveness, and conviction of the Holy Spirit, and repentance, and faith, and hope, and trust, and so much more. Jesus uses God’s Word – the Bible – to heal with scriptures. Jesus heals without band-aids.

Jesus is the light that my wounded heart and my broken life needed to be exposed to in order to truly heal. I wish I could say my healing was immediate. It was not. Neither is it complete. My life is undergoing ongoing change. And I wish I could say I don’t at times go running back to the world to try to stick a few more band-aids back on myself. But this is not true. I do sometimes, and sometimes often, go running back to the world to do just that. I wish I could say I stopped sinning and causing myself and others more pain when the band-aids came off and Jesus got a hold of my heart and life. This is not true either.

But what’s true is this. I now know the answer. Jesus doesn’t heal with band-aids. And when I am hurting, as I am now, I know the answer is Jesus. And I know the answer is God’s Word. And I know the world will not give me what I need. And I know when I fall again into sin, and into running to the world for the answer, and into scavenging through the world’s medicine cabinet, I know what to do. I know to return to Jesus, the one who came to heal my broken heart.

If you are covered in band-aids, then why not pry your band-aids off and go to the Healer, Jesus. If you already know Him and have turned away, repent and come back. If you have never met Him, or met Him briefly and don’t truly know Him, repent and believe in Him. If you know Him and want to go deeper with Him, seek the Lord’s face. If your heart is broken and your life needs healing, shut the door to the world’s medicine cabinet, get down on your knees, and give your heart and life to Jesus.

He came to heal your broken heart – without band-aids. With Himself.

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”
Psalm 147:3 KJV