Are you broken? What do you think? Could there be any beauty in brokenness? Yes, there can be. Especially if we surrender all the pieces to God. He is ready to create something new out of the messes of our lives.

We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. (Romans 8:28, VOICE)

Kurt Bubna in his new book  Epic Grace, Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot writes  “one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in life is never to trust anyone who doesn’t walk with a limp. You see, people with a limp tend to be people with humble hearts. They’ve been broken. They’ve lost something. The struggles and hurts of their lives have made them sensitive to the struggles and hurts of others. Whatever part of them may have been self-righteous is gone now. That makes them approachable. It makes them real. It makes them trustworthy. There’s something in the way they look at you, and in the way they talk to you, that bring your comfort rather than condemnation. They are grace-driven people. Some of them epically so. ” (emphasis mine)

To really become a grace-driven person we need to be broken. It does not sound inviting but it is true nonetheless. With the words of Harry Ironside “God is looking for broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God.”

The flesh needs to be broken. In order to serve God we need to be people with humble hearts. Brokenness is nothing to be afraid of. It prepares us for the greater good.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss has said “Brokenness is the stripping of self-reliance and independence from God. The broken person has no confidence in his own righteousness or his own works, but he is cast in total dependence upon the grace of God working in and through him.”

Only when we are broken, we are capable to serve God the way he deserves.
Only when we are grace-driven, we can love others the way they deserve.

A grace-driven person is filled – through the cracks – with grace and that’s why s/he is full of agape just as described in 1 Cor. 13: 4-7 (AMP):
Love endures long and is patient and kind;
love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy,
is not boastful or vainglorious,
does not display itself haughtily.
It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride);
it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.
Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way,
for it is not self-seeking;
it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;
it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes,
is ever ready to believe the best of every person,
its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances,
and it endures everything [without weakening].

That’s God’s grace in action. That’s how we become grace-driven persons. Even epically so.

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for loving broken-hearted.
Thank you for being in business of restoration and healing.
I give to you the messes I’ve made, everything I am, everything I have.
Create something beautiful, please.
Pour out grace upon grace, love upon love
and make me a grace-driven, much-loving person.
Use me for your glory.
In Jesus’ precious name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you been broken? How has God healed you?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you limp forward by God’s grace!

Image courtesy of Scott Foster, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Wisdom Wednesday, Unite the Bloggersphere and #tellhisstory.

This post is part of #EpicGraceWednesdays. I am blogging through Kurt Bubna’s Epic Grace. Join me every Wednesday!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review (or any review for that matter). The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”