Booklet, adapted from Advanced Study No. 2: The Ways of the Heart

The Whole-Hearted Christian

Frank Allnutt

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Part 4:

Figure 7: The Wounded or Broken-Hearted Christian

The spirit of man can endure his sickness, but a broken spirit who can bear?
(Proverbs 18:14).

The Bible refers to some believers as having wounded or broken hearts or spirits (Psalm 34:18; 109:22; 147:3; Proverbs 18:14; Isaiah 61:1). This is not in reference to those who experience a disappointment and then “get over it” (Paul is an example; see Acts 21:13). It is Half-Hearted Christians who are in view here—believers who are spiritually or emotionally traumatized by a devastating event or by numerous negative circumstances in life over an extended period of time. They don’t just get over it. They typically compound their problem by responding to negative circumstances in fleshly, sinful, or worldly ways.

“Wounded” and “broken” are translated from several Hebrew words in the Old Testament. When referring to the heart or spirit, the literal meaning is usually “stricken” or “crushed.”

Wounded-Hearted Christians share some characteristics with Fat-Hearted Christians, in that they have not placed their love, faith and hope in Christ, but rather in self, the world, and circumstances. Furthermore, they have not reached a point of giving up on self, repenting, and totally yielding themselves to God.

We discussed above how the Fat-Hearted Christian has confidence in self, has been “successful” in a worldly sense, and has, for the most part, experienced “positive” circumstances in life. A frequent result is that he experiences pridefulness, an elitist attitude toward self, and a self-deceiving sense of self-sufficiency.

The Wounded-Hearted or Broken-Hearted Christian, by contrast, may have little confidence in self, has not fared well in the world, and may have suffered much loss and suffering through adverse circumstances. He has attempted to get ahead in life by walking according to the flesh, but it has not worked out well for him. And yet he is not ready to give up on fleshly self and to trust God.

Let’s look at some typical functional characteristics of the Wounded-Hearted or Broken-Hearted Christian:

Negative mind set. This believer dwells on painful memories, often seeing past experiences at their worst, ignoring the good, and even exaggerating the negatives of his life. He has become conditioned to detest the present and to fear the future. Worry, doubt, fear, and anxiety fill his soul. Such emotions are “sin-debt”—the residue of sinfulness.

False identity. The Wounded-Hearted or Broken-Hearted Christian does not understand or experience his identity as a new-hearted, new creature in Christ. He has based his identity on circumstances and behavior, and this frequently results in poor self-esteem and a self-depreciating spirit or attitude. He may see himself as a victim who is doomed to go through life suffering. He expects to be victimized and exposed to even more and greater suffering. This makes him distrustful of others, especially of God. Because of his skepticism, he may misinterpret the mercies of God and good intentions of others to further “prove” that he is a victim and a sufferer. He may use his plight as an attention-getting means, only to find fault with those who care. And when his suffering and pain goes unnoticed, he feels rejected, hurt, and all the more a victim and sufferer.

Depression. This Christian has not achieved the level of self-sufficiency and comfort he has worked so hard to attain. He has become depressed (marked by attitudes of unfulfillment, disillusionment, defeatism, inability to cope, hopelessness, worthlessness, and unworthiness) because he cannot better control circumstances in life according to his will. He uses tactics of verbal and written communications, body language, behavior, and life-style to draw attention to life’s unfairness to him. However when others respond with sympathy he may turn against them and accuse them of not truly understanding or caring.

Blames others. Rather than acknowledge the insufficiency of his own efforts, he may blame others and negative circumstances for his plight. He may even blame God, and will not trust Him. His soul has been negatively conditioned to disbelieve certain promises of God. For example, he may early on believe that, “God causes all things to work together for good...” (Romans 8:28a), but when circumstances do not improve, as he appraises them, his faith and trust in God wane. This believer ignores the rest of God’s promise which points to his role in the relationship: “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” A believer who walks according to the flesh is not “living out” his love for God and his calling by God because he walks in sin and fleshliness, and not in love and in the Spirit. Paul writes that, “the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption” (Galatians 6:8).

A Wounded-Hearted Christian may go through a time of trying harder and praying more, but it seems to him that God no longer hears or cares. Some simply give up on self, others, and God. They may become bitter and resentful, and the wounds of their heart do not heal. Their heart may become hardened toward God and His Word. But circumstances only worsen and suffering increases. Life may become unbearable, and this may lead to the intensification of bitterness and increased resentment toward God and others.

Figure 8: The Double-Hearted Christian

The Double-Hearted Christian does not actually have two spiritual hearts, but he functions as though he does. His heart fluctuates between self-centeredness and Christ-centeredness, fleshliness and spiritualness. In modern parlance, it is sometimes said that this person has a “Jekyll and Hyde personality” or a “split personality.”

The “double heart” is mentioned in Psalm 12:2, and “undivided heart” in 1 Chronicles 12:33 is in reference to a person without a “double heart.”

Practically synonymous with the “double heart” is the “double mind.” In the Greek of the New Testament, the “double-minded” believer is literally said to have “two souls.” However, the literal rendering is figurative in meaning: This believer only behaves as if he has two minds or two souls. Sometimes he chooses to live righteously, and other times he chooses to live sinfully.

James wrote of the “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). This vacillating condition between self-centeredness and Christ-centeredness arises when a person has not totally surrendered or forsaken all things apart from Christ, and has not totally surrendered or yielded all things to Christ. This person believes in God, but places more confidence in the flesh and the world than in God.

In Romans 7, Paul flashes back to his pre-salvation days as a devoutly religious though unregenerate Jew when he experienced a type of double-mindedness. “One mind” wanted to observe God’s law (good desire), but his “other mind” quite often compelled him to yield to his “old man” sinful nature (evil desire).

The war between the “two minds” of the believer is most intense in the conscience, with one “rein” or “kidney” fighting for the sake of righteous behavior, and the other fighting for sinful behavior. This fleshly believer either commits actual sin or hypocritically allows law to substitute for his conscience and does what is apparently righteous. The latter response may satisfy the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. To use a contemporary example, this believer might donate a considerable sum of money to his church or a ministry to apparently satisfy the “law” of tithing, but all the while his true motive is to receive a lucrative tax benefit; were it not for the tax write-off, he would not make the donation. So, while his donation satisfied the letter of the law, it did not satisfy the spirit of the law because it was not done out of a love-motivated, pure heart.