Dying To Matter

Are you Brokenhearted?

I’m convinced that so many of our problems today are because we were wounded as children. Someone either offended us, violated us in some way, manipulated, confused, lied to, or mistreated us. Then fear took over, and we never talked about it. 'Something' made us mistrust our parents or authority figures, which caused us to feel like we couldn’t go to them. So we turned inward to deal with those things alone that we had no idea how to cope with. Some things we never should have had to deal with. We suffered the effects of sin while we were still innocent children. We began to bury the wound and maybe even withdraw from the true person God created us to be. We started to be someone else, all the while the real us was screaming to get out. We locked that person away. We only let them out at certain times when we felt safe. Most other times, we stayed hidden, but deep inside a part of us was dying a slow death.

We were dying to matter.

Some of you are still dying to matter. The real you is in there somewhere, but you’ve lost sight of who that is. You’ve suppressed your emotions and your thoughts for so long, you don’t even know what’s normal anymore. You’ve strived your whole life to become someone acceptable in everyone else’s sight, except God’s.

You tried being good enough for your parents, but you couldn’t seem to do the ‘right’ things. You tried to be good enough for your friends, but in the end, they still chose other people. You tried to be good enough for your siblings, then your spouse, or your boss, but in the end, it seems like you never quite measure up. Then your kids. One of the things that makes having children so special is that when they’re young, they think you’re the greatest person on the planet. Yet, as they grow older, even though they never stop loving you, they find out that you don’t know everything and that you have flaws, etc. Eventually, we find ourselves in the same rut as everyone else and begin trying to prove to them that somehow we’re still that same amazing person who gave birth to them.

Even if we stop trying to please these people, we still carry the burden of guilt for not being perfect. We carry around guilt for failing the people we love or the people we think we have to have in our lives because they seem to nurture our insecurities.

We need to allow God to heal our wounds and stop trying to please human flesh that only gives us temporary gratification. Forgive those who hurt us. Let go of the burdens.

Jesus came to us so that we could be free. He said in Luke 4:18 - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

He came to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free. We no longer have to live oppressed. As Elsa sang in the movie Frozen, “Let it go!” Be free.

We may have developed a distrust for people, but I’m here to tell you that you can absolutely trust God. Maybe He didn’t always answer your prayers when you wanted Him to, or He allowed things to happen in your life. But God is sovereign and knows everything. We might not understand everything He is doing, but he will work everything for your good in the end. Romans 8:28 - “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Take God at His word. Have faith and believe it!

Hebrews 11:6 - “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently see Him.”

Mark 9:23 - Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”