The Wound That Must Be Opened to Heal

Surgeons have a procedure called debridement. When a wound becomes infected or necrotic tissue forms beneath the surface, the body cannot heal on its own. The dead tissue traps bacteria, blocks blood flow, and poisons what surrounds it. The wound may even close over on top, looking fine from the outside while infection festers underneath.

So the surgeon must reopen the wound. With a scalpel, she cuts away what is dead — sometimes painfully, sometimes down to raw, bleeding tissue — so that fresh blood can reach the damaged area and new cells can finally do their work. Dr. Joseph Lister, the nineteenth-century pioneer of antiseptic surgery, understood that healing required more than closing a wound shut. It required cleaning out what was killing the patient from within.

Unforgiveness works exactly like necrotic tissue in the soul. We think we have moved on. The surface looks healed. But underneath, bitterness is trapped, poisoning our prayers, our relationships, our peace. We smile on Sunday morning while something rots beneath.

Forgiveness is God's debridement. It hurts. It reopens what we thought was closed. But the Great Physician knows that a wound closed over corruption is not healing — it is hiding. When we forgive, we let His mercy reach the deepest place of injury, and only then can something genuinely new grow.

The closed wound is not always the healed wound. Sometimes healing begins when we have the courage to open it up again.