When I pastored in Shanksville, PA, we had coal furnaces in both the parsonage & the church. In the parsonage there was a low beam that ran through the doorway that separated the coal cellar from the main part of the basement. I can’t tell you how many times I hit my head on that beam!
One day I met the guy who had preceded me in that church & I asked him if he’d ever hit his head on that beam. He showed me a scar on his head & said, “You’re lucky, there used to be a bolt that hung down from that beam. I cracked my scull on it one day & had to get stiches. As soon as I got home from the hospital I borrowed a torch & cut it off.”
Eventually, of course, I learned to duck every time I got a shovel full of coal from that room but my how many lumps on the head it took to learn my lesson! May we not be so slow to learn what Paul is trying to teach us in today’s text: every sin we commit leaves a nasty bruise & if we keep it up it will kill us.