A Good Kind of Broken

 A Good Kind of Broken

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”

MATTHEW 26.26

The kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation.

2 CORINTHIANS 7.10

I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 CORINTHIANS 12.9-10

Usually when something is broken, we get rid of it. We see it as useless. But that’s not how God works. It is actually our brokenness that makes us useful to him. In fact, brokenness is required in order for us to be pleasing to God. “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit,” David wrote (Psa 51.17). If brokenness is what makes us useful and pleasing to God, what does it mean to be broken?

Brokenness is a lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of our hearts. It means admitting that we aren’t perfect — and we never will be. It means shattering our solid determination to get what we want and be who we want, so that the life and character of Jesus can spill out of our lives. It means humbly admitting our sin and being willing to change.

Jesus didn’t just tell us we need to be broken — he was willing to be broken himself. But he wasn’t broken because of his sin, he was broken because of his obedience to God. God used Jesus’ broken body on the cross to bring about our salvation. Jesus showed us what it means to be broken and to be used by God in painful but beautiful ways.