“Why have we swallowed the lie that we can only help if we’re perfect?” —Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way
What freedom is in that statement if we can believe it.
My own brokenness was [is] in my identity. There are so many hooks we can hang identity on: accomplishments, position by birth, a relationship, a role, a job, socio-economic status, our kids’ performance. We can even hang identity on brokenness itself by believing certain things about ourselves are immutable—beyond the power or grace of God to change.
We can let our brokenness define us, limit us, and even disqualify us from service to others.
Do we have to get ourselves together before we have something to give away?
Or is it possible in our still-broken state here on earth to administer to others the very grace we are receiving moment by moment from Heaven, just as one might take communion and, in the very next moment, turn and give the bread and the cup to another?
In Jesus, we find forgiveness for our sin, the balm for our brokenness. In communion with Him, our identity is rooted deeply in God. As we are reminded of whose we are, we are able to rest secure in who we are—the delighted-in bride, the beloved daughter. It is finished.
Max Lucado describes who we will be in the final transformation—“…God’s magnum opus, his work of art.” We “will love with a perfect love;” our “heart[s] will be pure, [our] words will be like jewels, [our] thoughts…like treasures.” We “will be just like Jesus,” he says (Just Like Jesus).
God calls us “the righteousness of God in Christ,” (II Cor. 5:21). In the Heavenlies, we already are perfect, sinless, emotionally whole, physically healthy, loving, unselfish, pure in thought and deed.
Here on earth, we are manifesting that heavenly reality, still becoming what we will be. But, even here on earth, it is as good as done.
This is good news! It’s not just that we have the potential to be the person God envisioned; we already are that person. When we arrive in Heaven, in an instant, we will see who we really are—one of the many displays of the wonders of His Mind.
What a difference believing these truths is making in my life!
Living from a truer understanding of my own identity brings with it freedom, including freedom to share my “aha” moments as I go, rather than waiting for that elusive day when I have it all together, when my story has a happy ending, when the bow is tied on my life.
Our brokenness doesn’t disqualify us, whatever shape it may take: a broken heart, a broken body, a broken identity, broken relationships, or broken dreams. In fact, when we let Jesus and his grace flow through those broken places to others, the brokenness itself becomes a channel for rivers of living water.
This is God’s power perfected in weakness.
This is God’s glory displayed in clay pots.
How is God using your brokenness as a channel of living water into someone else’s life?
—Eva
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