Do you get discouraged when you mess up? Do you beat yourself up and even feel like giving up sometimes?
I went through a period where I was struggling with feelings of anxiety and guilt about my performance as a Christian. Then God showed me I was looking at myself and my flaws in the wrong way.
Here are four reasons to embrace your brokenness:
Jesus said, “I have not come for the righteous, but for sinners.” No one is naturally good or righteous (Mark 2:17, 10:18). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being hypocrites that saw themselves as sinless kings while they viewed everyone else as sinful, worthless peasants. They rejected Christ’s gifts and miracles because they felt they didn’t need them, but it was the outcasts and the needy who were humble and willing to receive His grace. Jesus even said:
“I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [the Pharisees] and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Whoever will fall on this stone [Christ] will be broken: but whoever this stone falls on, it will grind him to powder.” Matthew 21:43-44
Human beings will always be flawed, but it's when we begin to think you can handle things on your own that you start to fail. You begin to lose your peace, lose direction and feel like you need to work for salvation. When you start to feel this way, it’s a sign that you may be striving by your own power and not resting in His power and promises.
Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If life has felt hard and heavy lately, you may be likely to try to carry the load by yourself. Allow Him to carry it for you.
“Are you so foolish? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you do actions of the law? Of course not! It is because through faith you believe the message you heard about Christ.” Galatians 3:3-5
Imagine how you’d act if you instantly became a flawless, perfect humansonce you received Christ. You'd quickly turn your attention from God and begin exalting yourself and giving yourself credit for our good qualities.
It’s actually a very familiar scenario. It happened when Lucifer fell from heaven. It happened when mankind fell. It’s the reason people do evil in the world everyday. Pride.
Remembering your flaws so you don’t begin to judge others, becoming like the hypocritical Pharisees. Remember that without Him and without the Holy Spirit guiding you, you are still the same exact broken person you were before. Paul even used his problems as a humble reminder:
“But I refrain, so that no one can give me credit for something beyond what they see or hear from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations I have received. Therefore, so that I would not be given credit, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not get more credit than I deserve.” 2 Corinthians 12:6-7
Embracing brokenness doesn’t mean accepting defeat or embracing bad habits. It’s about remembering what God has done and is doing for daily. It’s knowing that without a daily walk with Him, you’d quickly return to being slaves to sin.
It's Jesus’ power and your dependence on Him that keeps you free and redeems you – not your own human efforts. Paul explains:
“But Jesus said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
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