We all have wounds. We all have our struggles. We all have those things that we, at least on some level, recognize as irrational but can’t seem to move beyond. For some of us it is a struggle with a particular sin that we are ashamed of. For others it is body issues. Still for others we struggle to believe that we are enough, that we are worthy, just as we are.
When it comes to loving others we want to free them from these wounds and struggles. I can look at my fiancé or my parents or the children I work with and see their wounds. It is natural when we love someone to want to remove that pain from their life. I’d love to be able to come in all mighty warrior style and give that struggle a giant roundhouse kick in the teeth, but I can’t do that. I can tell those people in my life how much I love them, but my love on its own isn’t enough to break those chains. But God’s love is enough.
It really is supposed to be that way. If my love were enough to free my loved ones from their struggles, then I’d be tempted to think that I don’t need God. If my love were enough to free them, they might be tempted to think that they don’t need God. The reality is that we need God. This realization that my love isn’t enough is a humbling one for sure. I need God to break through and free my loved ones. I need God to break through my own hardened heart and free me from my struggles and heal my wounds. No matter how much someone else loves me, they’ll never be able to heal me like He can. No matter how much I love someone else, I’ll never be able to heal and free them like He can.
But this realization is a bit frustrating too, isn’t it? I want my love to be enough. I want to be able to be in their life and kick the sin and the struggle out like it is my job. In some sense this frustration is a glimpse into the life of God. Don’t you think that He feels this way too? His love can set us free and break through our pain and suffering. He wants to be in our lives and kick the sin and the struggle out. Indeed, He is the only one who can kick the sin and the struggle out.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” Similarly, if we find in our lives something that needs healing beyond the love we can get or give to another, the only logical course of action is that the love we need has to come from Him.
