Tag Archives: brokenness

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Who’s The Boss?

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Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  —Romans 6:14

 

Read: Romans 6:1-14
Bible in a Year: Leviticus 4-5; Matthew 24:29-51

As my wife was babysitting our two young grandsons, they began to argue over a toy. Suddenly, the younger (by 3 years) forcefully ordered his older brother, “Cameron, go to your room!” Shoulders slumped under the weight of the reprimand, the dejected older brother began to slink off to his room when my wife said, “Cameron, you don’t have to go to your room. Nathan’s not the boss of you!” That realization changed everything, and Cam, smiling, sat back down to play.

As followers of Christ, the reality of our brokenness and our inclination to sin can assume a false authority much like that younger brother. Sin noisily threatens to dominate our hearts and minds, and the joy drains from our relationship with the Savior.

But through the death and resurrection of Christ, that threat is an empty one. Sin has no authority over us. That is why Paul wrote, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

While our brokenness is very real, Christ’s grace enables us to live in a way that pleases God and expresses His transforming power to the world. Sin is no longer our boss. We now live in the grace and presence of Jesus. His dominion in our lives releases us from the bondage of sin. —Bill Crowder

Thank You for Your grace, Lord, that cleanses us inside. Your grace is greater than all our sin. We know we can’t live without it. And we’re grateful that we don’t have to.

God pursues us in our restlessness, receives us in our sinfulness, holds us in our brokenness. —Scotty Smith

INSIGHT: Previously in Romans, Paul has been teaching about our redemption and justification—how through faith in Jesus Christ, God made us right with Him (3:21–4:25). Paul now deals with another aspect of our salvation—sanctification (Rom. 6:1–8:39). Because we have been given a new life and a new relationship with God (6:4-14), He expects us to live differently and to mature in holiness.
Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Path of Brokenness

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Charles Stanley

Psalm 51:17

John 12:24 gives a beautiful illustration of brokenness: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” That is, only by falling and breaking can a single grain produce a rich crop. If it remains isolated and protected, it will never produce anything.

That’s how the Lord works to mature His children. He breaks us in order to bring spiritual growth and supernatural ministry into our lives. And the process is always the same:

  1. God targets the areas in which we are not submissive to Him.
  2. He arranges circumstances and selects the tools with which to break our self-sufficiency.
  3. He controls the pressure and timing of those circumstances to bring us back into His will.

If we refuse to be re-formed through brokenness and instead cling to the things God wants us to release, He will put us on the shelf. Just like an unbroken grain of wheat, we’ll be fruitless and alone.

Yet we resist brokenness at every turn. We want to hang on to the things we think bring joy. We want to persist in relationships that stunt our spiritual growth. We want to take the path of least resistance and hope that God will bless our laziness. My friend, that isn’t the road to maturity. Our Father has a better way.

Brokenness hurts. The Word, however, proclaims that it hurts far more not to be broken. Don’t be distracted by short-term happiness. Look where your Father is leading you, and let Him do whatever it takes to get you there.

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Charles Stanley – Triumph through Failure

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John 21:1-19

We’ve all made tracks through the valley of failure. What matters is how we respond: do we give up and live a defeated life, or do we believe God can restore us?

The story of Peter’s failure and sub-sequent restoration gives us tremendous encouragement. Jesus knew that Peter would fall short, but He had specifically prayed for the disciple’s faith not to fail. The Lord also told him ahead of time that failure would not be the end of the story—Peter would stand up again and strengthen the others.

Notice an important distinction: Peter failed; he wasn’t a failure. The Enemy wants us to view how we fall short as part of our identity rather than something that has resulted from our actions. But the truth is that we belong to God, and our shortcomings can actually prepare us to be used more greatly by Him. In His hand, such times in our lives are tools to push our walk forward in great leaps. In order for the Lord to mold Peter into the leader of strength and humility he’d soon become, the disciple’s heart needed to undergo purification by being broken.

When we build walls around our heart to deny God access, we are resisting much-needed brokenness and healing. If we want to see the Lord use us, we must allow Him to get rid of the “chaff” that prevents us from reaching our maximum potential.

Amazingly, failure can be the catalyst that moves us to a whole new vision of what God is doing in our lives. He can utilize our missteps to bring into focus His plans and purposes for our life. The result will be glory to Him and blessing to us.