BROKEN

2Corinthians 11:27-30—I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Spiritual growth does not proceed well along the level path of landscaped sidewalks. Nor can we manufacture growth by choosing to walk only the pot-holed roads of life. Spiritual growth comes when we get serious about Jesus—not ministry, not finances, not friendships or sermons--just Jesus. He will lead us where we would not choose, to make us what we ourselves could never become.

Brokenness is the badge of discipleship. It is the sign that we are willing to relinquish the quest for our own glory because we are so dazzled by the spotless Lamb of God. It is the recognition that unconditional surrender to God’s will accomplishes the freedom we so desperately long for. It is the final cry of one fully stripped of any sense of personal accomplishment. All that seemed to matter has been dashed upon the reef of Myway. It is amidst our recognition that all that we held as dear floats away splintered and useless when God reaches down and begins the work through us He intended.

Inspiration

I must never choose the scene of my own martyrdom, nor must I choose the things God will use in order to make me broken bread and poured out wine . . . Let God go on with His crushing, because it will work His purpose in the end.—Oswald Chambers in So Send I You