Finding Spiritual Healing by Identifying the Nail in Our Soul

Jack Selcher
Jan 8, 2025
2 min read

Updated: 3 hours ago

Jesus pointing with his left index finger at a nail in someone's right foot

Summary

Lasting healing, physical or spiritual, requires honestly identifying the real problem. Temporary fixes and self-deception only delay restoration. Jesus came to heal those who admit their sin, not those who pretend to be righteous. Like a hidden nail in a tire, unacknowledged sin continues to cause damage. Repentance opens the door to true spiritual healing, forgiveness, and renewed life with God.

Breakthrough Begins with Defining the Real Problem

My daughter has had health problems for the last 22 years. They began her senior year of high school. During the early years of her illness, doctors couldn’t identify what was causing them. Some thought everything was in her head.

Finally, a doctor helped her define reality and do something about it. He diagnosed her with celiac disease, which had already caused significant damage because it had been undiagnosed for so long.

He was angry that other doctors had missed it. Once she was on a gluten-free diet, she began to improve. Her breakthrough required clearly defining the problem. That principle is true in many areas of life.

When Temporary Fixes Delay True Solutions

Recently, one of our car tires appeared low on air. I checked it and pumped it up to the proper pressure. I wanted it to be okay. A few weeks later, it was again underinflated.

When I examined the tire more closely, I noticed the shiny head of a nail on the tire’s surface. That is why it was leaking air. The game-changing breakthrough to solve an ongoing issue was identifying the problem.

The Same Pattern in Our Spiritual Lives

That is equally true in our spiritual lives. A complicating factor is that we want to be okay just as we are. I wanted the tire to be functional just as it was. It wasn’t, and neither are we.

Jesus Treats Those Who Admit Their Need

“Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent” (Luke 5:31-32 NLT).

The Danger of Pretending We Are Righteous

Jesus can’t help us if we think we are fine just as we are. The Pharisees and the teachers of religious law had nails in their souls but pretended they didn’t, preventing them from finding spiritual healing.

Like them, our soul sickness, the nail in our soul, isn’t going away. We ignore our obvious spiritual bubonic plague symptoms when we think we are righteous. Jesus calls us sinners.

On our best days, we are perpetually a day late and a dollar short in our spiritual obligations to God. We are not as good as Jesus, God’s standard of righteousness (Romans 3:23)—not even close.

Pretending to be righteous, we fool no one but ourselves. God sees right through our pretensions, as does everyone who knows us.