Dad, I Think I Might Be Broken

This was the thought with which our daughter contacted me last night. My immediate response was, “I think, if we are honest, we do realize that we are broken; we live in a broken world. Without God to mend our cracks, we would fall apart.”

But, that is only part of how I should have answered. The prophet Isaiah had something to say about this in 700 BC:

"Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are   like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like   the wind. No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You."
(Isaiah 64:6-7a)

Look around this country, once a beacon of God’s love and light to the world. Our country is broken because we, as a nation, have dared to step into what many now call a post-Christian era - an era in which we don’t need belief in God to be our crutch. Our national motto has gone from ‘In God We Trust’ to ‘We Can Fall Apart Just Fine Without God!” We are broken!

But, there is hope for those who will turn to God! Isaiah went on to say:

"But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter;  we are all the work of Your hand." (Isaiah 64:8)

Paul had something to say about this nearly 400 years later, after His encounter with the resurrected Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. He had been left with ‘a thorn in the flesh’ to remind him that his earthly life was broken, and that without God, he was weak - broken - but, that God’s grace is sufficient!

"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Why are we broken? Jesus Christ gives us the answer:

“And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.” (John 3:19-20)

God knew before the foundation of the world that we would need a savior, that we would break the perfect world that He created and gave into our charge. He created us with the ability to make choices - a free will - and He knew that our free will would get us into trouble. Was that a mistake? Did God mess up? No! Of course not. He knew that a life without choices, without free will, without the bruises we get on our foreheads trying to do things ourselves, we could never come to Him in true love, recognizing that He is truly a great and loving God who has been there through all of our brokenness, through all of our efforts to make it on our own.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Jesus said of Himself:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Only through turning to Jesus Christ can we have the brokenness within us fixed, the brokenness that would otherwise leave us to perish. The first step is to turn to God and say, “Dad, I think I’m broken.” But, don’t stop there. Ask him, “Can you come in and fix me?” He will, you know, because He promises us that He will. He has been waiting for just this moment. The truth is that, without violating our free will, He cannot fix what’s broken in us until we come to the realization that we are, in fact, broken in ways that we cannot fix without turning our lives over to Him.

"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

But, God’s salvation is not just a fixing of what’s broken, not just a promise of eternal life. Jesus said that He would give us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:19a), and further promised us a life of fulfillment and purpose!

 “I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)

Come to Jesus; do it now! Let Him fix what’s broken, give you the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and give you a life worth living eternally.