The Value of Brokenness

Up until the moment Christ enters our lives, surrounding our souls there exists a hard outer shell, a "survival nature," which protects us against life's harshest offenses. The shell is necessary while we are in the world, but becomes an enemy to our new life in Christ, where the nature of Christ becomes our shelter. Thus, as the shell of a seed, a nut or an egg must be broke before its inner life comes forth, so it is with us: the "shell" of our outer nature must also break in order to free the Spirit of Christ to arise in our hearts.

This need to be broken is recorded in Luke 20. Jesus Christ described Himself as the very cornerstone and source of life itself. Yet, as such, He also said that He was, "The stone which the builders rejected" (vs 17). We say we believe in Him, yet how we often reject the wisdom of His words when we build our lives! This self-sufficiency and self will is what must break before we can ever fulfill the will of God, which is Christlikeness. It is only because we are still unbroken that we trust the ways of men rather than God.

Yet, Jesus warned, "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust" (Luke 20:18). He is saying that, ultimately, only two types of people will remain: the broken and those scattered like dust. Only the broken can survive the coming glory of God. We either fall and break on Christ or He will fall upon us and scatter us like dust.

God brings low those He plans to use. Consider our spiritual heros: Joseph, Moses, David. Each suffered an extended time of wounding and breaking until they became low enough for God to raise them up. Or consider the early disciples: they enjoyed limited success working with Jesus, but in His most crucial hour they all failed Him. Even the inner circle of Peter, James and John failed the Lord. They slept at a time when Jesus desperately needed their prayer and companionship. In cowardice, they denied they ever knew Him. Yet, their failure did not disqualify them. Amazingly, because God used their failure to produce humility, they received qualifying grace. On Pentecost, God raised them up in power to represent the risen Christ!

Failure functionalizes our capacity to live more perfectly dependent on Christ. It causes us to more genuinely rely upon the Lord for wisdom, virtue and strength. It cripples our strength, turning the heart away from itself. We learn to fall upon Christ and, though broken to pieces, the Son of God can now flow out through us to others.

Sin is not our worst enemy; worse than sin is "self." Thus, as a hammer is to the shell of a walnut, so are our mistakes in the hands of our Heavenly Father; God uses them to unlock our spiritual inner nature. On the other hand, if we do not bring our failures to God in humility and repentance, they actually cause the opposite effect: they can create a thicker outer hardness. We may become cynical and angry, blaming others for our difficulties. If we do not see the Lord orchestrating our circumstances, we become entombed in our humanity, never able to see the true life of Christ emerge through us.

Let me also clarify that Jesus said that He would not break "a bruised reed." For those who come to Him devastated by tragedy, Jesus immediately seeks to bring healing. God's goal in all things is to create within us dependancy upon Him. We either come with brokenness or He will supply it.