Relational Healing
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“God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with Him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 (GW)
This week we’ve explored what the Bible says about healing in Jesus. We’ve looked at emotional healing, spiritual healing, and physical healing. Another miraculous aspect of healing in Jesus is relational healing. As with every other form of healing, God, Himself, is the source. Our healing is in Jesus Christ.
Relationships bring us the greatest fulfillment and joy in life while at the same time they can be the reason for the deepest wounds of our hearts. When relationships rupture, regardless of the reason, we suffer tremendous loss and pain. We see this in the first book of the Bible. In Genesis when man rebelled against God, our relationship with Him was severed. The Bible says that Adam and Eve hid from the Lord. Shame, guilt, and fear cracked the mirror of their reflection of God and their relationship with God. It effected their relationship with one another. Just one chapter later one of their sons murders his brother. Death came as a result of sin. Who hasn’t felt the stinging pain of a relationship that died?
Yet, God brought hope in the middle of all this mess to heal our relationship with Him and one another. That’s Good News! God offers relational healing to you and me! It begins the moment we turn to Him from our brokenness and sin. He gave His Son, Jesus Christ to restore our relationship with Him first. Then, as if that were not enough, He gives us the ministry of restoring relationships! Once you recognize this you only need to ask yourself two important questions?
First, have I turned from my brokenness and sin to Jesus Christ that I may experience a personal relationship with Him? Christianity is not about religion. Religion stresses rules and regulations and rituals. Christianity is about an intimate and personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Have you received Him as your personal Savior and Lord? If not, you can right now as you read this. Simply ask Him to forgive you of your sin, commit your life to Him and receive His free gift of salvation.
That leads to the second question. If I have received Jesus Christ and now have a restored relationship with God, am I intentionally engaged in the ministry of restoring other relationships? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described those in His Kingdom as “peacemakers”. Anyone can be a troublemaker that destroys relationships and stirs up hatred and strife. But Christ followers are called to a ministry of healing relationships. Healing relationships always begin with prayer and forgiveness. Forgiveness may or may not result in reconciling a relationship. That always takes both parties. Forgiveness can heal the brokenness and pain a ruptured relationship creates in your heart. Forgiveness will prevent our hearts from getting hard and bitter. Healing relationships with forgiveness doesn’t excuse an offense or deny the pain it brings. It simply releases it all to God and trusts Him to make everything all right one day.
Are you hurting because of a broken relationship? Ask God to bring healing to your heart and choose to forgive even when you don’t feel like it. Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. Commit your heart and that person to God and release the offense to Him. Relational healing begins in the heart. When you release that person to God don’t try to manipulate the relationship. Simply pray that God will engineer the circumstances in His time and His way to reconcile it. You’ll be free. Healing will begin. It will be exciting to see how God will work in your behalf.