FBF: We Can’t Be Fixed If We’re Not Willing to Be Broken

Before I began this blog, I had another blog on a different site for several years.  That blog is now closed, but each Friday, at least for a while, I want to resurrect some of my favorite posts from the previous blog.  These will be my Flashback Friday (FBF) posts.

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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

At least that’s what I was always taught. And it’s a lesson I didn’t always learn. As a kid I was A+ at taking things apart and F- at putting them back together.

As I have grown older, however, I have come to the conclusion that for some things in life the old axiom isn’t true – especially in regards to our spiritual development. As a matter of fact, brokenness is essential to spiritual growth. If we aren’t broken we can never be fixed.

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,” says the LORD.
” But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word. – Isaiah 66:1-2 

Pride, self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction get in the way of drawing us closer to God. In the verses above, God points out that anything we build for God – whether literal, physical buildings or constructions of programs, plaudits, and possessions – none of them impress God. He already made those things. He is not impressed with our resumes, reputations, or resolutions.What really gets God’s attention is the broken spirit of one who realizes his or her own sinfulness and well as the sinful of our society. God notices when our heart grieves over what grieves Him. God is attentive to the spirit who recognizes and declares total and complete dependence on Him.We have a lot to be proud of in our own eyes – our intelligence, our abundance, our technology, our contributions, and the list could go on. Sometimes we at least tacitly believe that God must be lucky to have us on His team. Without saying it, we behave as if we believe God is fortunate that we are here to help him.

In the New Testament, brokenness is referred to as meekness. All too often we mistake meekness for weakness. But meekness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. How can that be a weakness? Jesus is referred to as meek. Do you really believe Him to be weak? The New Testament word translated “meekness” was used in a secular sense to describe a horse who had been broken. The horse is a powerful animal, but after breaking, that power is channeled to positive goals.

God does not ask us to forfeit our abilities, strengths, and resources. He only asks us to recognize that really, they are gifts from Him, to divest ourselves of the right to use them and offer them back to Him for His use.

Now THAT impresses God.