The Guarded Heart vs Guarding Our HeartsSample

THE BROKEN PARTS OF OUR HEARTS

We all have experienced the pains and troubles of life that can leave parts of our hearts broken. Parts of us feel inadequate, resulting in insecurity. Parts of us feel like failures, resulting in shame. Parts of us have experienced hurt, resulting in fear of being hurt again. Our tendency as human beings is to find ways to cover up these parts of ourselves to prevent ourselves from feeling pain. We can cover up inadequacy through performance as a means of compensating. We can cover up failures through self-medicating behaviour as a means of numbing shame. We can cover up hurts through hiding as a means of rejecting before being rejected.

To trust in our cover-up is a means of self-sufficiency. Psychology calls this a defence mechanism or self-protective strategy. We have been using them since Genesis where we see Adam and Eve run, hide and cover themselves with fig leaves. They also became defensive and used the defence of blame when God confronted them. The more broken we are, the more complex the cover-up. Jeremiah 17:5 warns us against trusting in self. Whilst these defences work in childhood, when we are victims of circumstances and need to survive, however, they rob us in adulthood.

So, how do we guard our hearts from living a cover-up because of experiences that have caused a broken heart?

Firstly, we need to right-size brokenness experiences. We live in a fallen, broken world; this reality exists all around us. If we allow brokenness to define us, it will break us. We can spend our lives angry, defensive and blaming, or we can own our heart's need for healing.

Secondly, allow Jesus in. Isaiah 61:1 declares that he has been anointed to "bind up the broken-hearted." The Hebrew understanding of bind up means to wrap back together a person who has been shattered and fractured by life. The image is one of placing a bandage on the brokenness to hold it together. However, Jesus declared in Luke 4:18 that he has come to "heal the brokenhearted." The Greek understanding is to cure, make whole, release, and set free one from the destructive effects of brokenness. To not be held captive by the emotional pain of brokenness. Jesus doesn't just want to bind us back together again. He wants to remove the bandages and heal us from the effects of brokenness. This is incredible news.

We don't have to live with broken parts, as Jesus' heart is to heal broken parts.

Reflective Questions:

• What parts of your identity and value feel broken due to inadequacies that cause insecurity in you?
• What parts of your feel broken due to the pressures of performance and the fear of failure?
• What parts of you are broken due to hurts and rejections from others that have left you hiding your heart to avoid feeling hurt again?

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you that your heart is for my healing. Thank you that you desire me to live free from brokenness and in the fullness of what you created me for. I choose to bring before you today the parts of me that feel broken, inadequate, fearful and ashamed. I pray for a revelation of your love for me and your peace to fill my heart and mind with your truth. Amen.