My Child, Did You Hurt Yourself?

An Israeli folk-tale reads like this:

There once lived a widower with only one daughter. Though they were very poor, they lived happily together. The father loved his daughter very much, and his daughter would say, ‘My father is the one that I love most in the world”.

One day this girl fell in love with a man. She loved him deeply and told him, “You are the one I love most in the world.” The man did not believe her and told her to remove her father’s heart to prove her love for him.

The girl considered this matter for a long time. One night, she took a knife and plunged it into her father’s chest. She took out his heart and ran as fast as she could to offer it to her lover.

In her haste, the girl tripped and fell in the darkness. Her father’s heart cried out immediately, ‘My child, are you hurt?” She realised that she had done wrong and began to cry bitterly.

I could not but marvel at the greatness and gentleness of this father’s love for his daughter when I reached this part. Even when his daughter had been so unfaithful, he remained loving and caring.

How many of us today resemble this girl? “I would never plunge a knife into my father’s chest and take out his heart!” you may say, but instead of making hasty statements, let us consider the case of a typical Christian and see if we fit his mold. When a man has just believed in Jesus Christ, he is elated and seeks baptism. At his baptism, he cries, “Oh, I love you, God! Oh, I love you, Jesus!” Months, then years pass. Many things begin to take the place of God in his daily life — education, career, family, money…. Church attendance slackens; he does not pray as often and offers very little to God; he may resort to unscrupulous means to achieve his ends. But, this is not surprising since he has lost his first love — God.

The girl in the folk-tale removed her father’s heart. This is gruesome enough, but consider what the Bible says about the atrocities we commit against our Father in heaven:

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How are we robbing thee?’ In your tithes and offering (Mal 3:8).

We increase His burden on Calvary’s cross: Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many (Heb 9:28). Every sin that we commit has to be accounted for. When we ask God for forgiveness, our sins are ascribed to Jesus on the cross. His burden was enormous because of the many sins men have committed through the generations. Isn’t it a shame, that as enlightened children of God, we add to His burden each time we sin?

Some crucify Him a second time: They then commit apostasy (and therefore) they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold Him up to contempt (Heb 6:6).

Except for the last of the above sins, God is willing to forgive us of our offenses against Him. We rarely remember that He is looking on sadly with a heart pierced by our misdeeds. He grieves when our conscience, darkened by sin, causes us to stumble and hurt ourselves spiritually. Troubles, failures and illness stalk us. Yet it is at this time that He speaks to us gently, “My child, are you hurt?” He offers to lift us up and anoint us with wine and oil. Though we often hurt deeply the heart of our heavenly Father, He still says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

Strangely, some refuse His hand offered to them in their difficulty but those who repent and turn from their sins can find comfort in God’s love.

He will not always chide; neither will He keep His anger forever.

            He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:9-10).

We end with a prayer to our God.

Oh Lord, how deep Your love is. We pray that we will all be touched by Your love and to love You all the more.

Oh Lord! We are not worthy to plead to You. But because of Your love, You have overlooked our sins and have counted us worthy. Though we can never repay You fully, we pray that we can reciprocate Your love for us, at least by not hurting You through the things we do. Help us to love You more, forevermore.

Amen.