Benefits of Brokenness Part 2

Last weekend I had the opportunity to get away with the Cross Point leadership for a retreat. On Friday evening, we watched the DVD of Chuck Swindoll speaking at Catalyst 2009. It was just as powerful on DVD as it was hearing it in person. In his talk he said this:

When God has an impossible task to accomplish, he finds and impossible person and crushes them. So leave room in your life for the crushing. Leave room for the crushing. In every great work of God, brokenness and failure are necessary.

As I thought through this post today, I thought, what could seem more impossible than marriage? Two people coming together and becoming one flesh? Two agendas becoming one, two personalities finding unity, two directions finding common ground and going the same direction.Each with our own junk and baggage and sin…impossible at times.

I wrote a post yesterday on the Benefits of Brokenness Part 1. As I look back over my life, brokenness HAS come…how I’ve responded to it has determined the amount of my heart I’ve allowed God to crush. I haven’t always left room for the crushing. I’ve pretended it away, I’ve hid it, I’ve acted like it didn’t affect me, I’ve posed. When you leave room for the crushing…you experience brokenness and you lose some things that make more room for God.

-You lose your desire to pretend. When you embrace brokenness, you stop pretending. You stop pretending you’ve got it all together; you’ve got all the answers; you have the perfect marriage; you’ve overcome all sins. You lose your desire to pretend to be a better friend than you really are, a better husband than you really are, a better parent than  you really are…and you desire to be more of who God calls you to be. You actually want to wake up and be the person you’ve been pretending to be, and you realize that brokenness is the only way to get there. Leave room for the crushing.

-You lose your need to hide. Our natural desire as humans is to hide. What did Adam and Eve do right after they sinned? They hid. We’ve been hiding ever since. One of the best feelings I have had since I embraced brokenness is the freedom that comes from not  hiding. You can look at my computer browser, you can look at my bank account, you can look at my DirectTV statement, you can search my movie rental history at Blockbuster…I have NOTHING to hide. Having spent so many years fearing being FOUND OUT, not hiding is a life that I wouldn’t trade for ANYTHING. Leave room for the crushing…as you embrace it and find brokenness your need to hide fades away, and all your left with is FREEDOM.