Last Updated on October 12, 2018 by OCF Communications

I have a badly damaged right hip, and I feel it with every step I take. Until recently, I rarely thought about my hip. Now I think about it frequently. The limitations are obvious and they have an effect on what I can do with others. The doctor said the damage is too great and hip replacement is the best option. I look forward to the day when the hip stops aching and so severely limits strolls with my wife and with others.

In Timothy Keller’s book, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, he writes, “Have you ever thought about the fact that you do not notice your body until there is something wrong with it?” Keller’s theme is that the self-absorption in our own lives is often due to personal hurts and voids in our soul.

We are empty and our busy ego draws attention to ourselves. We respond by puffing up our fragile egos with imperious or self-conscious behavior. Positions of rank, prestige, and authority can be a seductive but poor choice of medication for internal wounds. They camouflage the pain, and then only temporarily.

We all have hitches in our giddy-up. Most are wounds within our soul: bitterness, deceit, fear, shame, guilt, and others. They hinder us; they limit us in our service with and leadership of others.

Temporary self-medication and bandages are not the answer to their dysfunctional effect. Surrender to the Great Physician—for His replacement surgery is the only way.