Infection Control

How can a [man] keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.

Psalm 119:9



Years ago, while in nursing school, I rotated through the surgery department. I was young and very ambitious to observe my first surgery. My thirst for knowlege and educational adrenaline would be satiated as I observed a hiatal hernia repair on an elderly woman. What I most remember was the prep that took place before the surgeon entered the operating room and the first cut made by the surgeon. The staff in the operating room went to great length to prep the patient's skin and secure sterile equipment, so as to prevent any debilitating infection that might infiltrate this woman's body. Additionally, the personnel in the room kept themselves donned in sterile attire and immediately corrected any break in sterile technique.

As a practicing nurse, who presently oversees infection surveillance, I now have a better understanding of why the staff took such extreme precautions. Infection can kill, maim, and permanently impair the functioning of a human being. Consumers and manufacturers are also aware of the importance of preventing infection as evidenced by the saturation and availability of "antibacterial"products.

There is another subtle form of infection that wounds, maims, kills, and permanently destroys humans. This infection is often excused as being part of the cultural norm, so infection control measures are no longer deemed critical. Marriages are broken as men and women live disconnected from their marriage vows, pornography claims the minds of men and women and leaves them unable to maintain purity of thought and action toward innocent children and adults, and minds are destroyed as movies, video games, books, and television normalize murder, crime, and hate. There exists no effort to correct or make adjustments when "sterile life techniques" are broken that could prevent these mortal consequences.

The infection I am referring to is sin. Sin kills. Sin destroys. It maims and claims the lives of families, individuals, and societies daily. There is, however, preventive "sterile life techniques" that can prevent this destructive force, and it is God's Word. His word, properly applied, protects, corrects, and directs the reader on proper "life infection" control techniques and measures. God's Word, in action, saves marriages, protects children, provides peace to anxious hearts and depairing minds, and restores and heals the loss sin demands. And unlike bacteria, which can out smart antibiotics and become "super-bugs," God's word cannot be rendered ineffective.

Today's challenge-practice infection control-read God's Word.

Lord, give me a pure heart as I read your Word. This is your promise. Amen.