Brokenness

Over the last few months I've been more exposed to the brokenness of this world more then ever, and there is still so much of it I haven't seen. People share stories about their pasts, and it's incredible to see where God has delivered them from, but the part that is the worst, is that God had to deliver them.

How did this happen? "In the beginning God created the heaven's and the earth." Genesis 1.1. "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Genesis 1.31. God, who is morally excellent and perfect, makes a world that is also morally excellent and perfect. From someone Good, comes something Good.

Genesis 3, we have the fall of man. Eve is deceived, Adam fails to protect her, and the world is cursed. Sin enters due to pride, and do to a failure to live out our God given roles.

Genesis 6-10, we have the flood and the descendants of Noah. Every wicked person is destroyed, and we are left with Noah, a man who is righteous, and his sons. From them come all the people of the world. Noah followed God, Noah would have passed God on to his sons. Who rejected Him? When? Why?

And now it's 2011, and the world is full of brokenness. In it we see how ugly sin is. Look at what it has done. Sin takes something so good, something made by God and given to us by God, and perverts it. Look at sex. God gave this incredible gift to husbands and wives. It is a seal of the covenant of marriage, it is that one thing that they share in their relationship. It gives enjoyment and life. Yet look at what it has become.

Women are told that unless they look and act a certain way they are not desirable. Women are used for the pleasure of a man who has no concern for the consequences she might face because of his selfishness.

Men are sucked into pornography. Sin has taken something as beautiful as a woman and made her an object of lust. Men get sucked into it because it's "safe". There is no fear of rejection with porn. It will never tell you "no". It will never say "stop". It will never tell you to slow down. There is no risk with it as there is in a relationship. Porn is easy, as is all sin, and that's why men get pulled into it.

Look at any sin, and we see how it has taken something God made good, pure, and beautiful and twisted it. Marriage, we have single moms all around the world. This is why women don't feel beautiful, they don't grow up with a dad telling them that society is full of lies. They don't grow up with a dad showing them that they are worth fighting for and that the deserve to be treated like the princess they are. This is why boys get sucked into porn and never grow into men. There isn't a dad around to show them what a man is. There isn't a dad to show them that men live with integrity, that men take the risk of rejection, that men fight the battles for the heart of the princess.

Life, God has given this incredible gift. Life is an amazing thing, we have the opportunity to experience the beauty of creation. The sights, the smells, the tastes, and the sounds. Yet we waste it. We indulge in meaningless, unsatisfying pleasures that leave us empty. We squander time on pointless activities instead of investing it in relationships. We have idolized success at the expense of life, our own and those of friends and family. "The glory of God is man fully alive." How many of us can honestly say we are fully alive?

Why do we choose to live in a way that doesn't satisfy and that causes pain and more brokenness? Why have we let sin reign in the world? As I said, it's easy. It is always easier to sin than to do what is right. It's easier to go through the motions than to live fully alive. But honestly, a life that is fully alive is well worth the price that has to be paid. A life that is fully alive is never broken. There is pain, there are struggles, but there is God. There is His peace, and His life.

John 10.10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." The thief, Satan, came to steal what God has given. He came to kill and to destroy the perfection that God created. Jesus came to stop Him, to give life, and life abundantly. Satan came to bring brokenness, Jesus came to put the pieces back together, to weld them and make them stronger. When are we going to let Him?

Let us be the change that we want to see. Let us be the hands of Jesus that bring healing and restoration. Let us say that enough is enough. Let us boldly stand in the shadow of the cross, in the light of the empty tomb, surrounded by the blood of Christ, dressed in the armour of God, together as the Body of Christ, and let us take back from Satan what has been given to us by God.

Let us live life fully alive to the glory of God.

Peace be with you