MENDING THE BROKEN

Sometimes we do the incomprehensible. We cross lines and break boundaries that do so much damage that a simple "I'm sorry" or "forgive me" just won't fix. I know… I’ve done it.

Since humility is not our natural modus operandi, more often than not we are prone to defending ourselves and deflecting what we ourselves need to take ownership of, all the while missing the most important thing of all, that the person we have hurt is hurting way beyond what we could ever have imagined, leaving them to drown in their anguish and pain by being self-focused and defensive.

We need to learn to be silent… to listen. It is one of the most important and powerful postures we could ever take as it allows the one whose heart we have broken to state their deepest pain. It allows us to not only hear, but also feel exactly what it is we have done, and how it has left them where they are, and why a chasm now exists. It is imperative for the one who offends to allow the depth of what they have caused to resonate deep and loud within their hearts. To experience the magnitude of the damage they have caused, as though it had been done to them. I call it “suffering identification” and is exactly what Jesus did when He laid down His deity so that He could be “tempted in all thing as we are tempted”. When we hurt someone, the only way we can bring a healing to those wounds is by getting down into them so that we understand our need to repent and repair. That takes humility. That is full engagement.

Repentance is a gift. It comes through our willingness to humble ourselves and come face to face with, and experience the depth of our own depravity and desperate need. With God, it heals our separation and delivers us from our deserved punishment by releasing His forgiveness, mercy and grace. Between two people, it opens the opportunity to restore what has been broken through making right choices and commitments that reflect love, honor and respect. It manifests itself in deep remorsefulness with an intense desire to make things right, to make amends and to never cross those lines again. It also allows God into the process with us; which is His greatest joy. True repentance reveals we understand that it is never about us, but that others are more important than we are ourselves.

Though we all sin, for the one who is willing to renounce and turn from their ways and make amends, who consciously and willingly wants to change… there should ALWAYS BE, and without reservation, forgiveness, grace and mercy. That is love. After all, real love is patient and kind; it doesn't hold onto a wrong suffered against it. It bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.. REAL LOVE never fails! God told Israel, “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” If that is Heaven’s response to a nation that had become apostate and lost in idolatry and abominations, how much more should it be ours? There is no greater picture of real love.

© 2012 Steven Bliss
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NOT AN OPTION!

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Y'shua said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Of the woman who washed His feet with her tears He said, "she loves much, because her sins, which were many, were forgiven, but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Then again He said, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”


What is forgiveness? He is not talking about merely saying the words and ending it there, but going beyond the words into the heart and demonstrating those words with action, which is love. Forgiveness IS loves greatest act. God demonstrated His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, He sacrificed His Son so that we could be forgiven and fully restored to Him. He acted so that, in our response, His love could deliver and restore! He never contemplates how bad we have been, He immediately responds to our contrition with acceptance and love. EVERY SINGLE TIME! 70X7! God doesn't say it's ok to sit around and mull it over when the person who has sinned against you repents. When we forgive, we are forbidden to hold it against them. If we do, our sins will be held against us. To do so is unforgiveness and judgment… not love. Y'shua commands us to “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (meaning perfect in love) who forgives and demonstrate that forgiveness towards us with open and willing acceptance and love. Forgiveness is not an option… it’s a command! If God says that He NEVER turns away a broken and contrite heart, why should we act any differently? Even the Angels rejoice when just one of us repents... it's a BIG deal. 



We all sin and sometimes, tragically way worse than others... but whatever it is, sin is sin. It is never worth the loss of a relationship not to forgive. The lack of forgiveness in this world creates an absence of love and establishes a path for conflict and conflict is one of darknesses greatest assets. Isaiah says that in the end, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.” There will be no conflict; there will be no unforgiveness; only peace! The Judge of all will Himself dwell among us. So if you have sinned against someone, humble yourself as soon as possible, go to him or her and acknowledge it, and then ask for forgiveness. If you're holding someone in chains today because of what they have done to you, even though they have asked you to forgive them... release them from the prison you have kept both them, and yourself in. We are not the judge, God is. Remember, the one who has been forgiven much loves much. So let love have its way. Forgiveness releases love and love heals, it restores and covers a multitude of sins!

© 2012 Steven Bliss
If you like this article, please spread it around! Hit the share buttons below! Your comments are always welcome; please feel free. Thanks!