I will never forget my first heart break.

One moment still vividly comes to mind. I curled up on the couch, laid my head in my best friend’s lap, and tears poured for what seemed like hours. The thought struck me then, that I used to lay my head in my parents’ laps when I was scared or hurt. The pain of that first broken heart drove me to childish responses.

Doubt, sin, discontentment, and emptiness were my constant rivals for months. There were days when I struggled less than others, but my heart didn’t heal quickly.

If you’re familiar with heartbreak, union with Christ heals your brokenness. Union with Christ means that we are brought into covenant with Him forever; we are given strength to exercise faith; we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit; we share in everything Christ has done.[1]

Here’s how union with Christ conquers the doubt, sin, discontentment, and emptiness that come with a broken heart.  

Union with Christ helps you in your doubt.

Doubts flood my mind when I feel pain. Will God ever relent? If He loved me, wouldn’t he end this? I can’t seem to move past my heartbreak, so does that mean I’m not a Christian?

If we belong to Christ’s blood-bought tribe of sojourners, we are fully His. Our faithfulness is dependent upon the One who dwells within us. This means that we can doubt our doubts. Even if we don’t feel like God hears us and struggle with doubt, we know that we belong to Jesus.

We can cling to this truth: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

Union with Christ overcomes sin.

When my heart hurts, my fight against sin gets wimpy. I find it easier to be angry at God, short with my friends, and self-deprecating. I want to wallow and I refuse to see my sinful attitude.

If I am down because of heartbreak, the last thing I want to do is get up and fight sin. Yet the battle is already won. Remember, my sin and your sin died when Christ called us His own. Jesus unified us to Himself through the blood that He shed at Calvary. The fullness of God was in Him as he paid the penalty for our sin so that the fullness of God could also dwell in us (Colossians 1:19-20).

Union with Christ comforts the discontent.

Heartbreak is often the result of unmet expectations. We may expect a promotion, a relationship to move forward, or our parents to live longer, and we experience discontentment when these things don’t go as we hoped.

But when we are in the midst of tragedy or heartbreak, Christ is in us giving strength and hope.

“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11).

If you can’t see past your heartbreak, remember that you are one with God through Christ. The presence of God is all the contentment we could ever want.

Union with Christ offers you completeness.

A broken heart isn’t repaired if the cracks and crevices are filled with things that don’t fit. No relationship, job, or dream is sufficient to heal us. Christians are never truly broken by a broken heart. We have everything we need in Christ.

We will constantly doubt, give in to sin, and be discontent if we don’t believe Jesus makes us whole. Does the completeness found in Christ mean that nothing ever hurts? On the contrary! We endure with tears in our eyes and scrapes on our knees; but as we do, we become more and more confident of the completed work of Jesus on our behalf (James 1:2-4).

We may hurt, but our beautiful union with Christ heals our broken hearts.

“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete” (Colossians 2:10).

Notes

  1. ^ This summary is formed from notes taken during Dr. Owen Strachan’s Theology class at Midwestern Seminary.