Have you ever wondered what it means to be broken?
Broken:
: separated into parts or pieces by being hit, damaged, etc.
: not working properly
: not kept or honored
Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?
Separated into parts; i.e. not completely together, or whole. In fact, a very precarious position to be in.
Did you know people can be broken? Maybe all their parts are intact, but not working together.
Broken people. Forgotten, overlooked, deemed unimportant by society, useless, broken people.
Broken people with shattered lives. Lives which, at one time, were filled with hope and promise. Lives turned upside down economically, socially, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
Or maybe they’re completely busted up!
Broken lives.
Just exactly what the Lord is looking for.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:10 ESV)
It’s an odd thing, though. You see, the Lord looks for the broken; those who’ve fallen apart, aren’t working properly, have been tossed away or discarded. And when he finds them, they’re repaired, restored, and broken anew.
Don’t you agree? Doesn’t that seem just a bit odd?
Ah, but the new brokenness is a life giving source of pure delight. Delight that comes from knowing the reality of hope. Unmeasurable and limitless joy that only comes from experiencing the life and love of God.
Honestly, there isn’t a person who is unbroken. And there’s not a one of us who would be better off to stay in that position.
To stay broken, unraveled, and unglued is to remain dead, lost, and alone.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…(Ephesians 2:1 ESV)
But once you come to CHRIST, your new brokenness takes on a whole new dimension.
Now is NOT the time to run away from the divine breaker. It IS the time to fall upon him and rise up broken AND whole.
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.“ (Matthew 21:44 ESV)
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Ps 34:18 KJV)
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18 ESV)
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 ESV)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18 KJV)
Jan Grace 