Healing the heart: unblocking the 'u' bend

Introduction

• the most significant healing we receive from God is a healing of the heart; the healing from being alienated from God and alienated from our true selves.

• I wonder whether the biggest and hardest lesson we have to learn in this life is how much God loves us. If we feel unloved or believe that we are fundamentally unlovable, then it will be nigh-on impossible to love others.

• to be a people of grace we need a healing of the heart

A Model used in Christian Counselling

(adapted from Lawrence J Crabb, Basic Principles of Biblical Counselling, p. 51)

Often Christian teaching tries to tackle sin at the situational level or at the level of behaviour or feelings.  We say, "avoid situations that cause you to sin, change sinful behaviour/feelings", but this may not result in our healing and transformation until we address the underlying sinful beliefs held about ourselves; in other words, until the heart is healed.

It’s like a blocked sink.  Trying to change situation/behaviour without dealing with underlying problem, is like removing the surface water without attending to the blockage, the real problem, the need for a healing of the heart. 

The psalmists wrote, ‘You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.' (Ps. 51.6)

Application Questions

• what situations bring out the worst in me?
• how do I behave/what do I feel?
• what thoughts and beliefs cause this?
• what does the Bible teach/the Spirit of Jesus say to this?
• have I taken to heart how much God really loves me?
• what new beliefs/thoughts emerge?
  or new feelings/behaviour
• Can I name these things?

Will we allow Jesus to meet our deepest need to be loved, accepted and forgiven, and receive the healing we desperately need?

• we all need love - a human being can survive without many things, but not without love. 
• we can only live in freedom, forgiveness and grace, if we have understood and experienced at the deepest core of our being God’s love, forgiveness and grace communicated to us by Jesus.

‘But God demonstrates his love for us in this: that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5.8)

(from a sermon preached on 15 July 2012 at St. John's, Muxton to listen go to http://www.stjohnsmuxton.org.uk/category/sermons/)