Being Made Whole to Be Made Holy

Wounds...we all bear them from all stages of our lives. It could have been a criticism from a friend, a betrayal by a family member, a knife in the back by a loved one, or something unbearable and unthinkable that may have happened to us, but we bear them. Our wounds have the ability to paralyze us at any moment in time. It could be caused by just simply being close to the person that wounded you, it could be by a smell, a song, or a specific place. Wounds can weigh us down and hinder us from pursuing the call that God has upon our lives.

Hebrews 12:1-2 " Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

We must fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, not checking our wounds every chance we get. We often bear our wounds proudly "Look, see, what was done to me" or "Look how wonderfully and graciously I have dealt with it" or "Poor me, I deserve...". The only thing we deserve is death, not poor pity me or adulation for how well we did, but DEATH.

Christ bore THE WOUNDS. He bore them so that we wouldn't have to bear any wounds. Sure people hurt us often, deeply, and far more painfully than we may care to admit. Now, sure it would be easy for me as a writer to just say "get over it", "lay it at the foot of the Cross", "Live in light of the Great Hope", "Choose to forgive" or "Let go and let God"...but I know. I know what it is like to be wounded, betrayed, and scarred.
I know what it is like to wonder if I'll ever get over said hurt or betrayal. Let me tell you it is often a daily and moment by moment process of laying aside those hinderances, fears, hurts, betrayals, and choosing to forgive, choosing to love, choosing to give grace. Making the RIGHT choice where you may feel it is so undeserved and even sometimes unwanted. However, Christ bore the ONLY Wounds that matter in the grand scope of it all.

Now do your wounds matter? Is the hurt or betrayal you've experienced all for nothing? NO, not at all...they teach us something, draw us closer to our heavenly Father hopefully, and they make us stronger and wiser. However, we must not allow our wounds to go unhealed or to become our indentity (is it what consumes your thoughts, is it the lens to which you view yourselves or that others view you through). We MUST allow the healing hands of God's mercy to move into our lives and make new those areas of our hearts that are marred and broken, pierced and scarred. We can no longer seek our identity in our brokenness but in the Great Hope of Salvation in Jesus Christ. Are we so desperate that we hang on to our wounds or will Jesus be all that we need?

As my pastor said a few weeks ago "We must put off brokenness and put on Holiness".
Does this take work? YES
Does it hurt? YES
Will it be an agonizing battle? Maybe
Will it be worth it? ABSOLUTELY

The God of all Creation is calling us, beckoning us to wholeness...to holiness. He bore the wounds, paying the price, redeeming us. Will we allow Him to RESTORE us?
His desire for us is to be made new continually, to lay aside every hindrance, every fear, every bit of past baggage. He so wants for us to RUN free, unencumbered, saved by GRACE, REDEEMED through HIS wounds, and delighting in the Great Hope of our Salvation.

Will you be made Whole to be MADE HOLY???

Romans 12:1-2
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Lamentations 3 ( I know this is a long chapter but READ it.  IT IS GOOD STUFF)

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;
8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;
18 so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord."
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever,
32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
42 "We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.
43 "You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;
44 you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples.
46 "All our enemies open their mouths against us;
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;
48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 "My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;
53 they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;
54 water closed over my head; I said, "I am lost."
55 "I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;
56 you heard my plea, "Do not close your ear to my cry for help!"
57 You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
58 "You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
61 "You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.
62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.
63 Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.
64 "You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.
66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord."