When it comes to our transformational journey, we often miss getting to the root issue. We become so focused on symptoms that we miss the core issue that is fueling our dysfunctional and sinful manifestations. We’re asking God to heal us and set us free, yet we are narrowed in on the branches of the weeds that we neglect to see the root system.
We can become so focused on:
- I have a thought pattern I can’t shake.
- I am addicted and can’t stop.
- My marriage is on the rocks.
- I think I might be depressed.
- I need to get over this anxiety.
- My life feels out of control.
- I’m burned out.
Yet we can miss a key issue that is lying below so many of the issues that we struggle with in life.
You Have a Broken Heart
Meanwhile, the greatest problem is . . . you have a broken heart.
We are broken people living in a broken world, attempting to live meaningful lives. But we are often so unaware of how our brokenness effects us. In addition, we’re so scared of letting our vulnerabilities show. Life and the enemy have trained us to hide our brokenness at all costs. Meanwhile, the brokenness is festering and hurting our relational world.
The thing about brokenness is that we all have it.
If we would all just admit that we are all broken to some degree, then we would have a lot more real connections, we would waste less time in relationships playing games and we’d move into more honest transformation.
[shareable]If we could all just admit to our brokenness, we’d waste less time fighting and defending our broken areas. [/shareable]
The Myth Christians Believe
Despite what many say, becoming a Christian does not make your brokenness completely disappear. In fact, a major aspect of maturing involves allowing God to heal the broken areas of our lives and fill us with who He is.
Missing the Core Problem
Pursuing spiritual growth without addressing underlying brokenness can feel like running uphill in a snowstorm. We’re asking God to grow us while ignoring how the issues of the heart affect us.
We often miss it because we were not taught the importance of it. Meanwhile, we end up chopping toxic branches off that quickly grow back, while neglecting to cut the root out.
For many, the process of sanctification is a hamster wheel that never changes. A lot of this has to do with the fact that brokenness of the heart is being ignored.
When Jesus ministered, He often bypassed the small talk of symptoms and cut right to the root issue. He always pointed to the heart. In fact, His focus began with healing to the heart.
Your Need for Heart Healing
The Gospel is good news from a good God, who loves you. That love needs to penetrate your heart, a heart that is broken for a number of reasons:
- You have experiences that have wounded you.
- You have emptiness as result of not receiving what you needed.
- You have areas of your life that God’s love and nature have not invaded yet.
Recognizing your brokenness does not mean you walk around all day sobbing and living out a disempowered life. Quite the opposite. Recognizing your brokenness can be incredibly empowering; especially because of the humble posture it produces in you. You are more teachable, moldable and able to receive instruction.
When you walk around like your garbage doesn’t stink, it distances you from what you need. It makes you critical, cynical and religiously legalistic towards others. People not recognizing their own brokenness is the reason we are all so hard on each other.
[shareable]People not recognizing their own brokenness is the reason we are all so hard on each other.[/shareable]
Heart healing does not lead us to a one time event, but a continual growth process. Once we give room for our hearts to experience more and more of Christ’s nature, we give God room to do anything else in our lives.
What is the Heart?
The heart is where your treasure is. If I want to find your heart I’m going to discover all the things that are important to you, the issues that grip you and values that motivate everything. If Jesus gets to your heart, He gets to the core of who you are and the root system that drives all your thoughts and behaviors.
Dealing with the heart gets past symptoms and to the real reasons why we do what we do…and why we don’t do what we should do. When God heals those areas, you can change sinful behavior forever.
Making Priority for the Heart
Our modern life makes little room for the heart, so it’s often easy to ignore the heart or fill the heart with so much clutter that our lives are out of whack.
We want God to heal us, change us and move us quickly. This is because we do not realize what the rhythm of heart connected living involves.
The heart is the core of who you are and the core place of all you hold dear. It holds your motives and deep desires. Its processes how you see God, yourself and the world around you.
Your heart also experiences the pain of life. This the biggest reason why people avoid heart healing. We spend too much time running away from any sign of pain and rushing towards comfort as quickly as possible. If comfort means living in denial, than so be it.
What Will It Take?
When will we finally allow ourselves to heal from unresolved brokenness?
I wish it was only through the goodness of God shining down. It’s His desire that His goodness lead you to change. But unfortunately, we usually do not address heart healing until the pain of our lives hits a threshold that we cannot take any longer. At this point, approaching heart healing is more like treating a heart attack, all the unresolved issues are now coming to the surface.
Quite often, the reason people come rushing for panic help, is because they have neglected the life of the heart and the healing that was needed long ago.
The good news is that God is a Good Father, ready to heal your heart today.
The question is, will we continue to ignore it or put it off?