He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
ISAIAH 53:3
It is unwise for runners to compete while suffering a stress fracture or a bad muscle sprain. But many Christians attempt to “run injured” in their spiritual lives. Many are carrying emotional and spiritual injuries from their past — unforgiveness, hurt, guilt, anger, shame, bitterness, pain, abuse, injustice — that they have not addressed.
We can never move on if we refuse to admit we are wounded. Some people in church can’t submit to authority because of a flawed understanding of the true nature of fatherhood. Others won’t fully commit to God because of abandonment issues. Still others won’t give financially because they have a poverty mentality, perhaps from a poor background, and fear not having enough. Still others don’t build healthy emotional attachments because of past abuse. And the list goes on.
As a young Christian, I had many emotional scars. Although they weren’t immediately apparent from the outside, I knew these “fault lines” in my personality, left unaddressed, would eventually hinder me. I had to allow God to deal with those broken areas in my soul or there would be no way I could finish my course in life. Somewhere along the line, one of those injuries would have flared up and taken me out of the race.
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to do a deep work of healing and restoration in us. We must allow him to go into those wounded, broken places in our souls and mend them so we can run our race unhampered by injury.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
Can you identify any wounds that you need to allow Jesus to heal?