Happy Holidays! I took a break from writing, as we have been in and out of town traveling over the past month. I’d been preparing to write my next post on the topic of Unbelief, but the Lord gave me a dream a few nights ago…so here I am, writing about broken glass instead.
The Dream
In my dream I was surrounded by family and friends, each person has had an impact on my life in one way or another. All of a sudden, my mouth started filling up with broken glass. The first few pieces were large, but very sharp. I tried removing them but they kept multiplying. Pretty soon, there were smaller pieces that were harder to recognize and remove. As soon as I thought all the pieces were gone, I would close my mouth and find more had accumulated. I found myself so preoccupied by the pieces of glass, that I didn’t even recognize the people around me anymore. All I could think about was getting the glass out of my mouth. Then, all of a sudden, I noticed the glass piling up around me and I started to panic. Out of nowhere, I was handed a note, a simple two-line apology, asking for forgiveness. Immediately the glass started to disappear and as my attention was taken off the glass I was able to see and acknowledge my family and friends again. Something changed though, this time when I looked at them, they were hurting and in pain, but because the glass consuming me was gone, I could see and comfort them.
As I started to wake up, I sarcastically asked the Lord if that dream meant anything, because it seemed so strange at the time, and He immediately gave me an answer.
The dream was about Brokenness, Forgiveness and Healing.
Simply put, we live in a sinful, fallen world. As much as we surround ourselves with close friends and family, they will inevitably hurt us and we will hurt them because of sin, which continues to grow and multiply over time if unaddressed. This creates brokenness (shards of glass). If we don’t deal with the root of the hurt and pain, it will consume us. There are different types of brokenness. Physical brokenness, for example, is obvious; you can see it and it physically hurts (large/sharp pieces of glass). Emotional brokenness is less obvious (small pieces of glass). It is harder to detect, but also harder to remove and until all the tiny pieces are gone it consumes us. The note I received was humbly given and it asked for forgiveness. It is only after we humble ourselves, give and receive forgiveness (accept the note) that the brokenness (shards of glass) starts to go away and we are healed. Once we are healed and walk in freedom we’re able to recognize the brokenness around us and help others.
Ultimately, Jesus is the only answer to our sin and brokenness. Through His blood, combined with our decision to surrender and receive Him, we are fully healed, forgiven, made whole, and restored.
“Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25
Simply put, Jesus came for our salvation. But humor me for a second; let’s take a closer look at the above verse. The original Greek word used for “save” in this verse is sozo. The full meaning of the word sozo, taken out of the Blue Letter Bible, is to deliver or protect (literally or figuratively), heal, preserve, be well, be made whole. So if you read the verse again, replace the word “save” with “sozo” and think of the full meaning of our salvation and, not only that, the verse says that Jesus is able to give us complete sozo…
Cliff Notes Version
Sin = Brokenness
Recognizing Sin = Humility
Honesty + Humility = asking for Forgiveness
Forgiveness through Jesus = Full Restoration & Freedom
Freedom = Strength to help others
When we are living in sin and brokenness, we are consumed by it and we don’t see how it is affecting others around us because we become self-absorbed. It is only through honesty and humility that we recognize our sin and seek forgiveness for our sins. Once our sin and brokenness is redeemed, we enter into full restoration. God loves and responds to humility James 4:6, “…God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Life is a continual cycle of sin, humility and forgiveness. Sin separates us from God. Yes, we are fully forgiven and live under grace, but we need to practice receiving grace daily by humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness. If we don’t acknowledge our sin, it grows like a cancer and consumes us. If it goes untreated it affects everyone and everything in our lives.
