Pimple

Warning: This might be gross. If you have a weak stomach you might want to scroll down to start reading.
Also, this post is not meant to poke fun at acute acne problems. I fully understand severe acne problems are very serious. Please read this in humor.

When I was 14 I had the best zit ever. I mean, this thing was great… a trophy among other zits… King of the Zitworld. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. It was at least 3/16” tall and as big around as a pencil eraser. White capped, taught and shiny, this beauty was positioned just to the right of my nose and stood out like a hood ornament on a 1978 Buick Electra. I remember I primed on this thing for at least three days before it finally… released [released is the nicest way I could find to put that this bad-boy zit erupted like Mount St. Helens and shot at least six inches in a gooey glob landing on the mirror]. Obviously, this was one memorable moment.

Thinking back, however, what I really remember most was the soreness. It’s funny that a pimple could cause my whole face to hurt. Smiling, frowning, scrunching my nose, winking, nodding [you get the idea]… any facial movement was painful. My social life suffered too. Everyone could see my zit because I carried it around with me wherever I would go. It seemed the more I tried to disguise the zit, the better the zit would show up.

And then came the “release day”. I can remember that the pain I felt as I [ever so gently] “encouraged” my friend into “liberation” was one of the most excruciating pains I had felt in my vast 14 years of existence. Although the pressure was gone, the scar remained, and a sore scar is an unhealthy scar.

So, I ask myself, what could I have done to eliminate this tragic incident? Using some acne medication would have been a good choice [Clearasil was always my fave… the tinted formula that didn’t show up as well. Kinda worked like makeup now that I think of it]. Acne medication is probably the easiest of the topical medications to use… you just open the tube and smear is on the “blemished” area. In most instances it dries things up rather nicely – much like forgiveness dries up emotional zits…our hard hearts, hurt feelings, and stubborn pride.

It’s easy to see our emotional zits. We carry them with us wherever we go, almost as if we’re proud of them. As they become more irritated they begin to grow and become sore, up until the moment they “release” and make a huge mess – usually affecting the people we care about most. It’s at this point the emotional zit turns into an emotional scar, and, just like a physical acne scar, acne medication can’t help. Only time heals physical scars.

The goal, however, is to apply the medication before the zit gets irritated, and chances are it will heal without the irritation, soreness and the scarring. Chances are others won’t even notice it, because with medication the skin is on it’s way to healing. Chances are, with medication, it will never “release” or cause an ugly mess with those we care so deeply about.

There have been times when I’ve needed to use some forgiveness medication in my own life… I think it’s safe to say we’ve all needed it at some point or another. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Colossians 3:13:

You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (NLT)

During the late 1990’s and into the early 2000’s, I had the unique opportunity to drive a dirt oval racecar at local tracks in our area. It was time consuming and stressful, but I had a great amount of fun and excitement doing something I had always wanted to do. One Saturday evening, however, that fun came to an abrupt halt. As I was leading the race another driver rammed into me causing a substantial amount of damage to my car. Seemingly overnight I went from being the guy who races cars to the guy who was wrecked. As time wore on, my heart became hardened towards the other racer. I couldn’t stand to hear his name and I hated his car number. More than that, I began to hate what had happened to me. I felt like I was a victim – and my emotional zit began to become more and more irritated.

This incident really affected me, both as a person and a Christ follower. The human nature in me wanted revenge… good revenge that would teach this guy a lesson and show him just how irritated I was. The human part of me wanted to give back to him what he had dealt to me. However, the Christ follower in me reminded me that revenge was not an option. Jesus never encouraged revenge; on the contrary, Jesus was a great promoter of forgiveness. His words are obvious of that in Matthew’s Gospel:

14"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. 15If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part. (Matthew 6:14-15, The Message)

Then, later in Matthew’s writings…

21At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" 22Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21-22, The Message)

Jesus taught what we all must know, that people will offend, but forgiveness will free. A hard heart or a bad attitude will only result in retaliation, but forgiveness will free the offender and the offended. Forgiveness will dry up that ugly emotional zit and heal the wound from the inside out. Forgiveness will allow relationships to once again be healthy.

Emotional zits can definitely paralyze even the best of us. Hard hearts, bitter attitudes and stubborn pride can ruin an otherwise healthy individual. The remedy is simply to forgive. Just as Luke 6:31 puts it, “Do for others as you would like them to do for you” (NLT), we should be forgiving others because Christ forgave us. The author of Hebrews puts it as purely as possible:

14Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs up, many are corrupted by its poison. (Hebrews 12:14-15, NLT)

Are you ready to live in peace? Are you ready to heal some emotional zits?