Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wounds

Holiness is wholeness...it is the Lord picking up all the pieces of ourselves that have been chipped away by other's sin against us and our own sin against others and our own selves. It is making us into our true selves that He planned for us to reflect His glory. These broken pieces of ours are sharp and jagged, cutting those that draw near to us. We inflict pain, draw blood, leave scars in the very same way it has been done to us and the cycle continues. But praise be to God....He sent His perfect One, His only One, His beloved One. This obedient One was broken as well. Fullness of God stooping low to indwell humanity, to save humanity. Body inflicted with hunger and exhaustion, emotions feeling the soreness of broken relationships, misunderstandings at every level.

Cruelness of rejection and physical abuse to the point of a broken death. Blood spilling. This wounded One does not wound. In the places that He was cut deep flows out the very healing we are all dying for. The fruit of His suffering in some mysterious, wild way heals us. Frees us. Picks up all the lost parts of us and gently places them back together. In this way the paradox of the Gospel saves us. 

                           " For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things.....making peace by the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death"      Colossians 1: 20-21

                        " Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed."
   Isaiah 53:4-5


So go to the stricken, risen One. Know your worth in His eyes. Not just the worth of getting you to Heaven or getting you signed up to help get everyone else to Heaven. Know the worth of your wholeness, your peace. That He cares deeply about your reconciliation....with Himself and with all others. 
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2 comments:

  1. Philip SalleeOctober 28, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    The fact that God loves us is the hardest thing for me to understand. My experience with church has left me with a performance mindset, the thinking that how hard I work is directly related to how much God loves me. Sometimes I think God allows us to wonder, to get broken, to get desperate and feel stricken and spiritually alone so that he can mend us and heal us. A mended life, healed and perfected by a loving God has no place for pride or boasting since the work was not done by the sinner. It points to Christ and it gives hope to fellow sinners that God died for sinners. The fact that it seems to both please and distress our savior to break us and to heal us is hard for me to understand.

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  2. HannahOctober 28, 2011 at 5:51 PM

    I totally agree with what you are saying Philip! I also feel wounded by church and performance driven spirituality. I feel like true conversion is life long and as He gently shows us the depth of our sins the miracle of His grace breaks slowly into our lives. Maybe its just been slow for me. Do you feel like your conversion was instantaneous or a process? And I agree that its only as we are made aware of our brokenness that we can offer that grace to others.

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