The Friday Exposure: Broken

These past 4 weeks have found me in a state that no one ever wishes to be in: completely broken. Life is supposed to be filled with happiness and fun all while living in bold confidence of the path ahead of one's self, not with realizations that we are insignificant and that we live in total dependence upon God. I think not. I would argue that brokenness is needed, not just every now and then when we have done something wrong or feel guilty or convicted of something, but always. We need to be living with that realization in mind.

But like I was saying, we don't naturally like to be found in such a state, especially by those who know us well because we have an "image" to uphold. I am so guilty of this. So many times I have sought to keep my reputation intact by not being completely honest with those that are close to me and that has been a hindrance to my faith during my years in high school and carried over a bit into my college years. Over the course of my first few years of college, I began to open up to key people in my life, whose friendship I still cherish to this day. However, it was not until this past summer and up until now that I really began to get a grasp of this area of my faith in Christ. Still, I'm not perfect (I will never proclaim to be) and I am continuing to strive to grow in this area of openness. I have much to learn!

What I can say though is the freeing nature that exists in being transparent with your life is something to seek. As a body of believers, the church needs to come around its brothers and sisters in love to speak truth in to their lives yet filled with grace. All of us struggle with something, so we all need to be seeking out community in which support for it members is a integral part of life, not that people may continue in their sin, but that they may seek repentance and freedom from it. For what do we have to hide? We are all human and we all fail. Praise God for who He is; perfect, righteous, and holy!

For more thought, here's a blog post that speaks of brokenness in relation to leaders and provoked my thought on this subject tonight.

"Godly character is grown in dependency crises. You are forced to deal with God and with yourself. Great leaders don't just visit these places of dependence; they try to live there."

-Darrin Patrick