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Day 31Let Gospel Love Shine Through Your Broken Heart Wednesday, March 21, 2018
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3
“By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 Peter 1:22,23 |
Devotional:
How often in the course of even a single day are you tempted to close your heart, put a barrier around it, pull out emotionally from a situation or away from a person because you’ve been hurt by it or them? Or perhaps you see others hurting so deeply and you’re not sure you’re “up for it.” or equipped to handle it. And, if you are already carrying a burden of sorrow, then going into the fray wide open is even more difficult, as the pain can be all consuming and almost too much to bear on its own, let alone have someone else’s troubles enter into your heart space.
How hard it is to be a child of God sometimes! To be used by Him means to be active in the Body- loving on, lifting up, exhorting, encouraging, admonishing and praying for your brothers and sisters. But, doing so every day means keeping your heart wide open, because that’s the only way His healing light can shine from you into their lives. And this means having the faith that in doing God’s will by being His love and light to His people, He will protect and heal your own delicate, tired and aching heart.
When I turned the grief inward for the estrangement of my son, my only child, from my life eight years ago inward, I became useless to God and He was unable to reach inside my heart to heal me. Because my focus was on me and not on the Cross, I could not see Jesus was standing right outside the gate of my pain ready to enter in and give me solace and love. I couldn’t see that he understood, that he was, as Isaiah described him, “a man of sorrows, and well acquainted with grief.” Maybe Isaiah included this aspect of Jesus’s character because he knew that you and I would need the kind of comfort and companionship on our road of sorrow that we can only find with someone who’s “been there.” Does it help you to know that Jesus can relate to your sorrow? It helps me.
Nancy Guthrie, founder of GriefShare, wrote about her own journey through the loss of her two young children to a rare fatal genetic condition, “Perhaps the greatest comfort I find in seeing Jesus as a man of sorrows is the affirmation that tears do not reflect a lack of faith; indeed, they are a companion to authentic faith.”
But the part that really brings me to tears is when I think of how with all that hurt on his beautiful tender heart, with the incredible weight of sorrow he carried, he never once stopped loving us, healing us, bringing us his kingdom promise. At the deepest point of torture and betrayal and abandonment and misunderstanding he utters, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24)
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;...But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace...” Isaiah 53:5
Such love! He makes me want to be broken as he was broken for me! The rapturous words of Isaac Watts ring in my soul: “When I survey the wondrous cross...On which the Prince of glory died, See from His head, His hands, His feet sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?...”
Gospel love shines most brilliantly from the refraction through our tears. Allow your heart to be broken so that the rays of Jesus’ love may gloriously shine through its cracks- sending forth His healing love light to tenderly penetrate the cracks of other’s broken and hurting hearts. And so, “with his wounds we are healed.”
How hard it is to be a child of God sometimes! To be used by Him means to be active in the Body- loving on, lifting up, exhorting, encouraging, admonishing and praying for your brothers and sisters. But, doing so every day means keeping your heart wide open, because that’s the only way His healing light can shine from you into their lives. And this means having the faith that in doing God’s will by being His love and light to His people, He will protect and heal your own delicate, tired and aching heart.
When I turned the grief inward for the estrangement of my son, my only child, from my life eight years ago inward, I became useless to God and He was unable to reach inside my heart to heal me. Because my focus was on me and not on the Cross, I could not see Jesus was standing right outside the gate of my pain ready to enter in and give me solace and love. I couldn’t see that he understood, that he was, as Isaiah described him, “a man of sorrows, and well acquainted with grief.” Maybe Isaiah included this aspect of Jesus’s character because he knew that you and I would need the kind of comfort and companionship on our road of sorrow that we can only find with someone who’s “been there.” Does it help you to know that Jesus can relate to your sorrow? It helps me.
Nancy Guthrie, founder of GriefShare, wrote about her own journey through the loss of her two young children to a rare fatal genetic condition, “Perhaps the greatest comfort I find in seeing Jesus as a man of sorrows is the affirmation that tears do not reflect a lack of faith; indeed, they are a companion to authentic faith.”
But the part that really brings me to tears is when I think of how with all that hurt on his beautiful tender heart, with the incredible weight of sorrow he carried, he never once stopped loving us, healing us, bringing us his kingdom promise. At the deepest point of torture and betrayal and abandonment and misunderstanding he utters, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24)
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;...But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace...” Isaiah 53:5
Such love! He makes me want to be broken as he was broken for me! The rapturous words of Isaac Watts ring in my soul: “When I survey the wondrous cross...On which the Prince of glory died, See from His head, His hands, His feet sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?...”
Gospel love shines most brilliantly from the refraction through our tears. Allow your heart to be broken so that the rays of Jesus’ love may gloriously shine through its cracks- sending forth His healing love light to tenderly penetrate the cracks of other’s broken and hurting hearts. And so, “with his wounds we are healed.”
Prayer: |
Lord Jesus, I pray that I embrace the treasure of healing as I reach out in service to others. Help me to open my heart space to others in need of a listening ear or quiet encouragement. And when I do, let me experience your healing as I offer healing to others.
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Song/Hymn: |
After the Last Tear Falls “…after the last tear falls, there is love- love, love, love...”
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