The next thing that Jesus sends us to do is to “bind up the broken hearted“… the last time my heart was broken was when I needed to demonstrate my love for my wife and completely shut down the business… even though we would still be honoring reservations for 4-1/2 months, Ellen just wanted to shut it down… like now … no more reservations. When I make a decision like that… to put someone else before what Philip wants…… then… something of Philip that needs to die… does just that… it dies…
Then He comes in with His life and “binds up” that wound… stops the bleeding… bandages it… wraps it up… gives the wound relief…. starts the healing process… (those are all meanings of the word that is translated as “bind” from the original language)
It has to be His Life though… not mine… not my sympathy… not my humanism… not the great responses I was taught that would cover every circumstance in life… just His life… just His love.
When our buyer backed out of the house sale, the night before the closing… it was devastating for Ellen… the last thing she needed was for Philip to come with some canned religious saying assuring her that everything was ok… she needed to just be held… just be loved on…. and then have time alone… from everything else… she needed to just talk to Him… then He stepped in and started to bind up that very deep wound…
Loving on people… telling my stories… and then pointing people to Him is the best way I know to bind up the broken hearted…
🙂