The Blessing of Brokenness

Who wants to be broken? Nobody does! But who has been broken? Everyone! This is a message for us all. Brokenness will come because sin pervades our existence, yet we have a choice to allow God to shine through our lives despite the difficulties we face. If we decide not to yield our will to God, then we are hindering the love of God from flowing through our lives to others. And we are stealing God’s glory. One of my favorite movies of all time, antithetical to everything I just wrote, is Braveheart. When I first watched Braveheart, my response was “Hallelujah praise God!” But during my storm when I watched it I’m like “Yeah, William Wallace!” When I was young I saw a story of Jesus, but when I got older and experienced more deeply the pain of life I saw a movie about myself. My perspective changed, not the movie. But that’s the point; my pain narrowed my view and made self preservation my primary focus, and it wasn't until I was broken that I even realized that my perspective was more selfish than selfless–I was becoming less like Jesus. Jesus is and was the slain lamb before the foundation of the world, and there is nothing about a slain lamb that looks appealing to me. He was broken. He was crushed for us all. God is asking his bride, the church, to respond faithfully to being broken. Just like Jesus did. It’s a choice. You will have to make a conscious choice. But take comfort. When difficult times come, God has been there and God is there with you now.

Challenges don’t stop coming; they keep rolling. Stay faithful to His word. God has given you grace to overcome them, and so when you do overcome them, realize that people are watching your life. Be sure to stay faithful and give God the glory. Respond faithfully to being broken. Trust Him. Understand that trusting God is a moment by moment decision. And in order to respond faithfully to Him in the storm you have to constantly give Him control of your life now before the storms come. Have faith that He has your best interests in mind. I didn’t learn that when I was in my Greek and Hebrew classes in Divinity School. I remember thinking in class ‘once I master Greek and get my A, I’m good, I’ve reached the summit’. Then I graduated and was in the storm at the bottom of the valley, and I never once thought, What is the Greek word for this?

Who in the Bible do you know that wasn’t broken? David? Joseph? Moses? Come on. Every one of them had been broken, because God was doing something with their hearts and through their yielded will, He received Glory. Be the vessel God uses to bless others. Remember that we broke those glowsticks for the sake of those around us. And you have to understand in your own life that if God has been taking you through some stuff, you may have been resistant to being broken. You might be saying, “I don’t want to go through that.” I get it. I hear you. I understand. But remember the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom is about others as well as ourselves. Every good thing that you have God has given to you for His benefit. Imagine if you dedicated your gifts, your talents, to help expand God’s kingdom, which means being a blessing to others. That’s why you are so gifted and talented. You can stack up cheese (that’s money) in the bank all you want. Get your 401k. I know you’re praying for that DOW to go up, I’m in there with you. But understand that there are people who need your resources, your time, and your talent.