"The Broken Heart"

 "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water." (John 19:34 KJV)

  ""Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us, now he will bandage our wounds. In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring."" (Hosea 6:1-3 NLT)

 Once upon a time, it might have been okay to mind our own business, hold our heads up, and act as if none of this craziness has anything to do with us; but these times that we are living in, are not like those times! Peter puts it like this: "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8 NLT)

 We are not in this on our own, no matter what you might think, your spiritual battle is not just your own! When we fool around with sin, it affects those around us, like ripples on the water when you through in a giant stone! You might not think what you do hurts anyone else, but we are all one body; you tear off a finger, the pain will spread to other parts of your body, too!

 Here, we see something that many have shared about, the ruptured heart of Jesus! Yes, it is true, His heart was ruptured, and it might have been caused by the force of His ribs when He relaxed His body. Oddly enough, there is something about that, relaxed body thing, that might show us some reason we must not feel as though we have no more fight within us. Call it what you will, but if we don't stand for what we believe, we will find ourselves doubting what we believe is true! 

 Paul mentions this in Galatians 5:1, saying, "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." (NLT) Whenever we see this word, 'so,' it is there because it sums up a previous thought, such as our freedom that we have in Christ, which is based upon trusting God. 

 How bad do you want to love God? How hard do you want to love your brothers and sisters? Does it break your heart when you neglect love, letting yourself relax and not put forth the effort? We no longer are under the law of Moses! But we are under the law of the cross, which is all about love...

"Dear brothers and sisters, if any believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct." (Galatians 6:1-5 NLT)