The Itch
Only about the size of a pin head, it is: on my back, just below the shoulder blade. It itches. Well, I don’t know what you think the itch is, but it just needs a good scratching. Laila knows exactly where it is, and when I can get her to, she rubs over it two or three times (just not her giftedness). If I were a king, I would have someone scratch that spot on my back and comb my hair all day. But I am not a king, so sometimes I just lean back and rub against a post or door to ease that itch.
Dr. Richardson, a dermatologist friend, looked at the spot and told me to leave it alone. He said if I would stop scratching it, the itch would go away. Maybe, but I am torn between the comfort of the scratch and the patience to wait for the itching to stop.
Maybe you have a spot that just needs scratching or rubbing. Maybe you understand the need to ease the tingling of that nerve that can only be satisfied with a good scratching.
In truth, I have another itch. It is the itch to find a precious soul and tell that precious soul how much I love him/her and how much God loves him/her. Try as I might, there is no assuaging of this itch until I find such opportunity of sharing Jesus thus bringing joy to my soul.
Try as I might to indulge in exercises that bring happiness, excitement, adventure, thrills, and even rest, at the end of the day, if that itch has not been scratched, my soul is restless.
I talked with the Doctor about this itch in my heart and soul. He helped me to understand the cure and why nothing else works until the cure is applied. He said that man is wired with that itch of the soul. He said that deep within the heart of man is the need for community. He said that aloneness is a perversion of the soul. Man by nature craves to cure aloneness by seeking out the fellowship of others.
The Doctor told me that man, just like his Creator, is born to a higher cause, a more ethereal purpose, and unless man fulfills his divine destiny he is a restless soul. Not finding legitimate ways to satisfy his soul, man will substitute illegitimate methods and behaviors. Rebelling against Truth, man will do the most dastardly things to try to satisfy the need of his soul to have communion with God and man.
The Doctor told me that inside of man there is the divine need to reach out and touch the lives of others. Until man meets this intrinsic need of fellowship and community, sharing and caring, he/she is a creature unsatisfied, itching/lusting for material methods and means of satisfaction. I listened to the Doctor tell me about his own itch. He said that when He tried to satisfy this itch, He was told to go eat. He responded that scratching the itch to help others was better than food. When told He could be famous, He responded that fame could never equal the joy of fulfilling his divine destiny to please His Father. When offered wealth, He scratched the itch of joy to lay down his life to give hope of life to others.
The Doctor told me that He even faced death with joy for the sweet knowledge that His death would save millions of lives. As I listened further, it seemed clear to me that He had found his purpose in life, fulfilled His purpose in life, and practiced scratching that itch with an eternal plan.
It may seem like a strange way to communicate the message to you, but I am trying. I am trying to say that if you keep your life, you will lose it. You live your life to yourself, and you will scratch away and never be satisfied. You love your money as if it is your god, and you will lose the joy of giving it to satisfy that itch—that desire to make sure that others know the Doctor you know.
All said and done, I hope you are getting a clear picture that until you share Jesus with others, you have not really lived. Until you tell others that Jesus is your joy and source of joy, you have not known the thrill of heaven’s joy. Until you give yourself away in caring for others as the Doctor cared for you, you will never satisfy that hunger and thirst inside you, placed there by your Creator, and filled with love and care for others through the power of the gospel.
Now, go scratch that itch. Tell someone about Jesus. Joy waits on you. Don’t delay.
In hopes of souls being saved,
Pastor Bare
“And he who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30b).