BROKENNESS IS BEAUTIFUL

 

Brokenness is a necessary part of the Christian life (2 Corinthians 4:10-11), but it is also beautiful before our Lord, so beautiful that it draws Him to us like steel shavings to a magnet:

Scripture invites us to believe that He so favors the broken-hearted that He has chosen to dwell among us:

• Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2; 57:15)

How can our feelings of failure and inadequacy be beautiful to anyone, let alone to the Creator and Sustainer of this entire creation?

• The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19)

Why is our Lord drawn to us broken, sin-ravaged people? For some inexplicable reason, He loves us so much that He died for us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-10). For another reason, He hinted to us of His surpassing love for us by creating us to be like Him (Genesis 1:26-27).

But why His intimacy with brokenness? As many verses inform us, He is repulsed by its opposite - pride:

• The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:14-15)

The Pharisees had been trying to justify themselves to prove that they were righteous. It was like telling God, “I don’t need you. I am good and deserving on my own. I don’t even want you.” It was also to live in the darkness of self-deceit where no light was allowed entry (John 3:19-20).

In contrast, the humble were in touch with their need and undeserved-ness and knew that they only deserved one thing from God - death (Romans 6:23). Therefore, they also knew that God’s mercy depended on His love for them, as little children know that their parents’ love does not depend on their deserving it:

• And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-4)

Children are naturally humble. They know that their parents owe them nothing. They wouldn’t dream of telling their parents, “I don’t need you at all. I don’t even want you. I deserve better. You are nothing to me but an impediment.”

Instead, humility says, “I love you because you first loved me. I desperately need you.” This should be our attitude toward our Savior.

Our Savior is like a loving mother, hovering over her needy infant to nurture her in every way possible. We are those needy infants, sheep who desperately need their Shepherd. We are grateful that our desperate plight draws Him to us.