Embracing Brokenness

       The second week after staff left project, the theme was embracing brokenness. With the first week being God’s Holiness, we began to look at our brokenness compared to God’s holiness. During the study that week we looked through quite a few passages from the Bible that talked about light and darkness.

The bulk of our study was in John 1:5-9.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

According to this passage- God is light. That means that NO darkness can be found in him at all, EVER. This points back to how Holy He is. We are called to walk in this light. How can we walk in this light, though, if we are sinful (darkness) and God cannot have any part of darkness? It is because of the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross, cleansing you and me of ALL of our sin- past, present and future, so that we may be found IN him. If we are in Christ then we are seen as holy and blameless before God. If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are in him, and when God looks at you he doesn’t see your sin, he sees Jesus. This reveals that in order to have a relationship with him, we need Jesus, because God cannot be in the presence of darkness, but with Jesus we are children of light. The old has passed and the new has come. ALL of our sins are forgiven and we are called to live in that freedom.

        So, if you are a child of light, then what does it look like to walk in this light? Well, first, lets look at what it looks like to walk in darkness?

            -Believing lies, not surrendering to God, not abiding in the Spirit, not seeking after Him, denying that we have sin, denying that we need Jesus, and more.

Now, what does it look like to walk in the light?

            -Confessing sin, seeking after God, repentance, trusting in God, not looking for satisfaction in other things or people, and more.

            - Walking in the light is about being exposed, not just being a good Christian.

When we embrace our brokenness we can see God’s faithfulness, justice, love and so much more revealed in our own lives, and it shows our desperate need for a Savior. When we embrace our brokenness, truth is revealed to us.

The more we embrace our brokenness, we will begin to know more of God’s character and who He is in our own lives. He longs to reveal Himself to us; we just need to realize how bad we actually need Him.