A broken, contrite spirit in a follower of Jesus reflects a profound and humble acknowledgment of sin. A deep earnest desire erupts within as we seek God’s forgiveness. Our humbled attitude before our sovereign King Jesus, is welcomed by the One who describes Himself as meek and lowly of heart. Our contrite spirit knows that we have not behaved as Jesus would have in the same situation. We become acutely aware that our harsh words, our brittle attitude, actually grieves the very sensitive Holy Spirit. We are truly sorry that we have caused the Holy Spirit to take a backseat to our relentless, stubborn pride! So we are crushed in sorrow as we humbly submit, and admit we need restoration by His merciful forgiveness.
Our genuine sorrow and regret for our self righteous attitudes, reflects an internal conviction from the Holy Spirit. With broken hearts we admit our failure to please God. We know that our Father desires to reconcile all to Himself, even those we felt superior to. Oh Lord Jesus, our need for You is greater than our desire to hold onto bitter resentment. We need Your help and forgiveness. Our remorse is deep and we sincerely desire to turn away from our sin and pursue Your way of righteousness. Our willingness to make amends to those we have hurt by our harsh words, overwhelms our pride. All resistance melts as we confess we were wrong to be pridefully stiff necked. Forgive us Lord.
Our humility before God occurs as we recognize our dependence on God’s grace and mercy. We understand that our best effort is woefully insufficient for reconciliation with God. Lord, we are willing to be transformed by Your love and grace. We desire to grow in our faith and to embody Christlike qualities. Our Father’s response to our contrite heart is found in His Word. Psalm 51:17 and Isaiah 57:15 both assure us that God is near to those who are contrite in spirit. He offers comfort, healing, and renewal to those who humbly acknowledge their need for Him.
We approach God with a crushed, humble and repentant heart. We admit our criticism, bitterness, judgements, unforgiveness, pride, and false humility. We ask Jesus to forgive and restore us. We turn back to God with a broken spirit to accept His forgiveness as Holy Spirit renews our identity as His anointed servant. Psalm 51:17 “MY SACRIFICE, O God, is a BROKEN SPIRIT; a BROKEN and CONTRITE HEART you, God, will not despise.” To crouch, to bend a knee, is to take action, to groan in our spirit for grieving His Spirit, we are sorry.
Isaiah 57:15 “For this is what the HIGH and EXALTED ONE says—HE who LIVES forever, whose NAME is HOLY: ‘I live in a HIGH and HOLY PLACE, but also WITH the ONE who is CONTRITE and LOWLY in SPIRIT, to REVIVE the SPIRIT of the LOWLY and to REVIVE the HEART of the CONTRITE.'”
Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the BROKENHEARTED and saves those who are CRUSHED in spirit.”
Zephaniah 3:12 “But I will leave WITHIN YOU the MEEK and HUMBLE, the REMNANT of Israel will TRUST in the NAME of the LORD.”
If ours is an examined faith, we should be unafraid to doubt. There is no believing without some doubting, and believing is all the stronger for understanding and resolving doubt. “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Our Father desires that we ask questions of the Holy Spirit. Reveal anything in me that dishonors God. The Holy Spirit’s conviction is a blessing. He affirms in our spirit “this is the way, walk in it” We are a spirit, and for a designated time, we occupy a body, with a mind of its own. Our spirit (soul) and mind are both invisible. The brain is not the mind. The brain is a physical thing that gets dissected in an autopsy. We are called to examine the thoughts that stream through our mind with the intent to capture, arrest, and evict all that does not honor God, or serve us. Our faith in God builds upon our personal experience with the Holy Spirit, who teaches, guides, comforts and convicts us.
