Being Broken
Hemingway is on to something important. But there are a few improvements that can be made to his thought.
It is not simply the world that breaks us, but it is sin in the world, and sinful people in the world who do the breaking. Because we are sinful, some (and maybe even quite a bit) of our brokenness can be self-inflicted. We are both broken and we are breakers.
And while the promise and hope is that we can become stronger at the broken places, Hemingway does not suggest how that happens. And for so many people they don't know how that can be so, for it is not their experience.
Sometimes what is broken stays broken and maybe gets worse. Pain remains and intensifies.
How can we become strong at the very places where we are broken?
Christians know that the power of God is at work at their places of brokenness.
That was the the experience of the Apostle Paul, and he talks about it in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:
I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
This is also the incredible teaching of Paul in Romans 8:31-39. Get your Bible, turn to that passage and read it at least once. Twice is better.
This is WHY you can become strong at the places of brokenness.
This is WHY you can become strong at the places of brokenness.
At Living Word, we are here to help you find the love, grace, mercy, and healing power of Jesus.
That is what Jesus has for you.
May you find the healing and hope you are meant to have.
Yours in the love of Christ,
Pastor Brian Rice