Fellowship of the Broken Heart

“The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,

And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

— Psalm 34:18

One of the wounding lessons that Peter learned was how easily the flesh can bring one down. He boldly and publicly proclaimed to the Lord that, "I will never deny You." Wow! Within a few hours he would deny the Lord three times.

Sin gets access and victory in our lives when we have too much confidence in our own "goodness." There lies the problem; we think we are good. We are not, we are the sons of Adam and good is something we have never been. We are fallen and can only be redeemed through Jesus.

Even as new creatures in Christ, we must never forget that without Christ we are a wicked race. You never hear a porn star or a murderer, or a prostitute go on and on about their sins. They are broken and ashamed because of their life before Christ. This should be the case for all of us who have been redeemed.

We need a broken heart over our past, and over the sins we commit now. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23). We have nothing to be proud about, nothing to be confident about. The Apostle Paul said there was nothing good that dwelt in Him except Christ, and Christ alone.

Maybe remembering what we have been redeemed from will cause us to have a deeper fellowship with our Lord. Much of our worship is shallow today because our thankfulness is little. We need to remind ourselves: "I was the cause for Christ's death on the cross. I was the cause for His beating. I was the cause for His humiliation. The Holy One of glory did it all for me. Without Him I can do nothing. God, may my heart be broken over my sin so that my fellowship can be rich and my life a living sacrifice."