We switch on the television and see good sports spoiled by bad behaviour. We hear at work about the manager who has been cheating the company, and the husband who has been deceiving his wife.

We hear at work about the manager who has been cheating the company, and the husband who has been deceiving his wife. We open the newspaper and read about the person knocked down by the drunk driver and the sadistic attacks on the aged and the young. We travel on trains and see what the vandals have left behind. These events come close to our own door and sadness enters even into our own homes. Our lives are spoiled by wrong actions. A short, simple word for all this is sin. Sin constantly spoils our lives.

One famous writer has described our spoiled lives as reeds on the river bank that have been bruised by the current of sin that swirls around us. Isaiah was a man who believed in God. He lived before Jesus but wrote of Him, “a bruised reed He will not break.” A bruised reed is a plant that has been hurt or crushed. How bruises bring hurt into our lives; lives that are for many at times a journey through a dark tunnel of depression. Some find themselves trapped in a cage of anxiety, and many families are severed through marital and financial problems. We have all been hurt by others who are selfish. We have all faced bitter disappointments at some time or other. We have all been through shattering experiences when it felt as if nobody cared. Yet we can remember – when we are honest with ourselves – our own unkind remarks. We cannot always blame the other person. We cannot always rest on our own convenient excuses. We need to face up to those wrong actions, those sins.

When we do this and look in the mirror of our own life, God assures us that there is no life that is so bruised and injured that it cannot be healed.

Matthew 11:28 states, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

“A bruised reed He will not break.” Isaiah here also describes the Saviour, Jesus, as being kind, gentle and merciful. He does not want to condemn but pardon and heal us when we come to Him. Jesus’ life was unique, full of healing, wisdom and truth and not spoiled by sin. Then He yielded His life on a cross at a place called Calvary. Peter, a disciple of Jesus, described His crucifixion in 1 Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” How amazing that the Son of God loved us and gave
Himself for us, even though our lives are unlovely and spoiled by sin just like unattractive bruised reeds!

Accept this invitation to admit your sins and thank Jesus for dying for you. Take your step of faith – perhaps the first in your life – and speak to the God who is here and thank Him that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died for you. Your life, like a bruised reed on the river bank, can become strong, healed and ready for growth.

Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me the following simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour!

Believe by faith. Share the faith. and Keep the faith! God Bless You!