11-29-18 Broken Within
Broken Within:: By John Lysaught
Life is hard. It can beat us down into the ground. Because of this, people get broken within. They lose heart and they lose hope. I think we can all attest to this at one point or another in our lives – the emptiness, the desperation, the guilt of sin, all of which causes a broken spirit. I’ve met many people that are broken, and you know what? Some don’t even realize it. They think that is what life is and nothing more.
It is troubling for one to have no hope of the future but just a picture of the next dreary day to face. The only thing they have is the end of the work week, only to be let down by the chores of the weekend and the reminder that Monday is just a couple of days away. People want to escape and they turn to the world. Even Christians can get caught up in this cycle of life. We can break free from it though; we don’t have to be broken.
I can think back to my cycles of being broken. I can recall many times getting stuck in my troubles and thinking, “Woe is me,” over and over again, feeling sorry for myself and not facing what the cause of the trouble was. Yes, I have looked to the world for comfort and left Jesus to the wayside, blaming Jesus for my tribulations. I used Jesus as a punching bag with my thoughts and words. Did it help? Nope, not at all, but I did it nonetheless.
In my mind I would wrestle with Jesus about my reality and situations. I forgot His promises in my broken state. I would rather be angry at Him than face my reality and the troubles I got myself into. Why didn’t he bail me out of my issues? Why did He not give me the strength to avoid the sins I committed? I was so self-absorbed that I couldn’t see the truth in front of me – it was myself that placed me in the situations that made me broken within.
The truth of the matter is I deserved the pains I had that caused my suffering. But you know what? Satan capitalized on my pity parties and dragged me further from Christ than I would like to admit. Many times I didn’t see this happening, but only found myself in a deep hole, looking up to the small light above. It was my heart that Satan was trying to make cold. Thankfully, he failed at each attempt because I was able to come to my senses and reach out to the light, and with Christ’s help, climbed out of the holes of brokenness.
You may be facing the same thing I did. You may be in your own hole of despair and hopelessness that has caused you to be broken, to have a broken spirit. I don’t know your situation, but you do; and let me tell you, you can make it back to Christ.
Satan will want you to stay broken. He will want your hurt to get worse and worse. He will grab you by the ankles to pull you down the hole of nothingness. This can be avoided. It takes effort and a conscious realization of what you are doing to yourself and what Satan is attempting to do to you.
1 Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Christ died for us, and with Him the sins we committed through His grace and mercy; so we would be seen as right in front of God on judgment day. The verse doesn’t say some sins or we are party healed. It says “sins” and “healed.” Don’t read into this more than its simple statement of our position in Christ.
Those times when we feel broken, we must remember that Jesus died for us. It is our choice though to believe this or not. And with the promise of eternity with Him if we accept His grace and mercy, we should live our lives, not in a broken state, but in a joyous state.
For example, in Romans 15:13, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
“Joy and peace in believing” – how simple and awesome is that. No strings attached. No conditions attached. No parentheses saying “except.” Because of our belief we can abound in hope. We can hold on to this concept of hope because Christ has given us many promises.
As we suffer though our troubles and hold tight to Christ, we will grow stronger in Him. Our relationship with Christ should not be contingent on a good and happy life, but should be on the promises of being with Him in heaven through belief and hope. When we get closer to Christ and when we face troubles, the hold of Satan on our lives, or his attempts to drag us down, will be nil. We won’t be broken because our hope will be in our hearts.
Isn’t that what it’s about? Keeping the love and hope in Christ in our hearts? If we can do this, the brokenness within will be less likely to happen, even in the worst of times. Yes, we will be tempted by Satan to let Christ go and turn to the world, but these are the times when we need to keep our trust and hope in Christ and to let the Holy Spirit lead us.
The Holy Spirit is our helper, not sometimes, but all the time. We just need to listen. The road to brokenness begins with us not listening to the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit does not lead us to failing, but if we listen to him, we will be sure to avoid such troubles. When we don’t listen to Him is when trouble enters our lives and we wander around like lost sheep outside the pen.
Some Christians fall because of brokenness in their lives. They walk away from Jesus and fall into the world to look for answers like I did or you have done. Some, though, let go of Jesus, shut the Holy Spirit out, and walked away. We all know people who have done this. They faced a hard time, blamed God, and never came back. It is sad to see this happen. It reminds me of the parable of the sower; they sprouted up, and when adversity came about, they withered and died. They lost sight of Christ and let their own selves give up on the hope and promises of Christ.
Look, I’m not calling anyone out on this. I’m just speaking from the heart of what I’ve been through and what I’ve seen. If a sinner like me can crawl out of the cave of darkness back to Christ, then others can too. You can too. All it takes is asking and seeking Christ in your lives again. There is not a secret formula or specific words; just talk to Jesus. He will not turn you away but will welcome you back with open arms.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).
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