I've been thinking a lot about lately about being broken at the foot of the cross and finding healing there. The amount of people that I see an interact with on a daily basis that express their brokenness and need for healing is truly remarkable. So many people are unashamed in proclaiming the many ways that they are broken. However, most of the time, it isn't in a search to find healing or comfort, but more a proclamation of how they believe that they have overcome this brokenness on their own, or how they stand even though life seems to be trying to destroy them every day. I'm constantly seeing people who are single parents, clinging and grasping to every bit of what they see as hope, a life built differently through their efforts to achieve an advanced degree. I see those who believe that if they can just fulfill their parents desires, then they can make them proud, proud enough that they don't need to happily live, but merely scrape by with family approval. For losing that approval would result in a sort of disowning. I see students that believe higher learning is the path to leading them to all their wildest dreams; the fancy job with the great salary, the beautiful spouse, the house that no one else can afford, the joy that they believe those people have. I see people who merely scrape through life, day by day by day. Just trying to make it to the next, hoping that it will be different than the day before, never understanding how their thoughts and beliefs impact this mindset. I see students crushed by student debt, unable to eat for days on end, only desiring to continue the quest to become someone who has achieved the "American Dream".
Everyone is broken. Broken in such a way that there is really no cure or fix that can be found by man. All of these people that I see every day live each and every day hoping that they will find a cure doing something. However, that cure doesn't exist. There is no cure procured by man for the brokenness seen all around me, but there is a hope. A hope that stems from the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Because He lived perfectly, we have hope. Because He died perfectly, we have hope. Because He was buried perfectly, we have hope. Because He rose perfectly, we have hope. Man cannot make his way to the peace received only in Christ, it must stem from Christ reaching out and grabbing hold of that individual and drawing him unto Himself.
Those who believe in the Lord, must rely on Him solely. This is how we offer hope to those around us. Not by claiming to be perfect unblemished people, this never works, for everyone knows how broken and in need of something more they themselves are. When Christians live in such a way to take all the strife of life and yet continue to be joyful, that is noticeable. When joy comes from suffering, people want to understand why. They want to learn what they need to do in order to leave their brokenness behind, to experience hope each and every day.
Christians don't have perfect lives, but we do have One who mediates on our behalf, upholding and sustaining us every step of the way. When we experience someone who is broken, we should rejoice that we have hope to offer, that we have been given a gift that we could never have achieved, a gift that is not available to the natural man. Every person that receives this gift must be born again, receiving a new heart and mind. One that seeks after God, for the natural man can never seek after God. We should take courage that though we may be afflicted, we no longer fight alone.
Today, if you encounter those who are broken, which you are sure to do, do not feel sorry for them and move on afraid to speak about their pain, it will exist whether you talk about it or not. Instead, live your life in such a way that God works mightily through you to bring the Gospel to them, offering hope and joy for those without any. You never know when God will use you to bring another of His children into His kingdom, so never turn away an opportunity to speak about why you are filled with hope, for there is nothing that can be done to you that your Father who is in Heaven will not sustain you through.
This song by Hollyn has truly been speaking to my heart, offering hope and healing to all who run to the cross. I pray that it speaks to you as well.
