Bruises hurt. The soreness of a significant bruise on my right wrist may cause me to be very careful about using my arm for a few days. I may become apt to slow down, be too cautious, and miss out on activity because of the tenderness.
The Bible tells us that Jesus came “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18b, KJV) We humans get bruised spiritually in this life. While physical bruises are ruptured blood vessels resulting in pain that can cause hesitation, spiritual bruises are hearts broken by sin’s effects. These bruises of the heart can stultify our emotional lives and compel debilitating cautiousness.
Whether we read in the King James Version of the freedom bruised ones receive, or we read in the New International Version of the release of the oppressed; the Greek word implies that we are broken, shattered, and blown to pieces in a spiritual sense.
Jesus came to free us from the effects of sin’s bruising. Do you feel stifled by the guilt of your past? Are you hesitant to enter into God’s plan for your life because of sin’s effects? There is no bruising effect from which Jesus cannot set us free!
Some spiritual bruising is the result of our own rebellion against God’s righteousness. Some bruising comes because we suffer under the general effects of sin: broken relationships, illness and disease, disabilities, economic hardship, emotional weaknesses passed down through generations, and dozens of other agonies.
Know this: “Jesus came to set at liberty them that are bruised.” His shed blood and resurrection from death provide the healing for our bruises.
Please do not allow the enemy to steal from you the glory of moving forward each day in God’s plan without hesitation.
Our past sin will not stifle us.
Our former failures cannot make us stagger.
Our undeserved heartache will not command dawdling.
Our suffering bodies will not make us tentative.
We are resolute and ready to pursue every dream and purpose God has for us. Why? Because Jesus has set us free from life’s bruising effects!