Redefining broken

I am thinking about the spiritual application of brokeness. The word gives me a mental picture of a twig snapped in two. But maybe brokeness is more like my washing machine. From the outside it looks fine, but on the inside there is something deeply wrong. If I were to operate it for very long it would self distuct. It’s not snapped in two but it is broken, like my washing machine, I am not snapped in two, but I am broken. I believe that Jesus is an excellent repairman, and I need his touch on my internal workings.

So many of the people I know are like me, wounded and broken on the inside. We are like broken down jalopies, barely capable of moving yet life does not, will not allow us to pull off the highway of life to get fixed. I get images in my head of the Beverly Hillbillies truck.

Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost. He came to save, not condemn.

I think about the leper, if you are willing and Jesus was willing. And I remember the woman at the well shunned by her townspeople but Jesus broke all the rules and revealed himself to her. Then there was blind Bartimaeus. When he finally got Jesus’ attention Jesus asked what he wanted – to be given sight of course. Also there was the woman caught in the act of adultery. After dispersing her accusers he said “neither do I condemn you”.

Let’s take a look, we find the story in John chapter 8.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

These people all were broken but Jesus didn’t toss them aside, instead he fixed their physical conditions and set them free from their sins.

In Isaiah 42 God declares his intention to heal, mend, encourage.

“A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

The washing machine is a bad example because I did toss it and bought a new one. Now my garbage disposal is a different story. It quit working and I was preparing to replace it but while I was looking for a model number I found a post that showed how to reset an overload button. Presto! It started working again!

Sometimes it is our brokenness that keeps us from Jesus. We feel unclean, like the leper I mentioned earlier. Lepers were required to stay at a distance and shout unclean. I can identify with this but the man in our story shook off the conventions and restrictions and got close enough to Jesus to touch him.

How broken are you? Not sure why I asked that. It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s time to look into our owns hearts and minds and assess where we need healing or repair. We cannot be too broken for Jesus to heal us.

A bruised reed, a smoldering wick an overloaded garbage disposal. That’s me,

Jesus does not condemn me. Jesus does not condemn you. He is waiting for us to ask him to help us.

Will you ask for help today? I hope that you will. If you are already repaired will you share your story of redemption and repair with someone else?

Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

May God bless you today with his healing touch.