Are We Beautifully Broken?

Hey y'all! Do you ever just get caught up in a song? I normally listen to a Christian channel on Pandora while I am getting ready in the morning. Today's blog post comes from my experience today. Please hear my heart on this, I am in no way bashing the song I will reference, just trying to make sure we are thinking through the things we hear each day. Ok? Ok...good.

The chorus of the song I heard this morning states: "You're beautifully broken, and you can be whole again, even a million scars, doesn't change whose you are, you're worthy, beautifully broken". I honestly am not sure if I had heard this song before. I probably had, just hadn't really absorbed the words. I just want us to think about these lyrics for a minute. Is my brokenness really beautiful? My brokenness comes from pain, hurt, loss, ultimately sin whether in my life or the lives of those around me. Is that truly beautiful? I don't believe it is. I think the brokenness in my life and really the world, hurts and saddens God. Can He redeem that brokenness? Absolutely, but that doesn't make my brokenness beautiful. It makes my God amazing.

We are not worthy. We tend to lose sight of our depravity. In our culture we are so self focused on making sure our kids (even ourselves) have "healthy" self esteem that we allow certain phrases to become normal. However, the healthiest self esteem we can have is knowing our place. You see, God is at the highest of heights and we....well, we are not. We are not worthy. We do not deserve anything but death and hell for our lives that are but a breath. That is so against what our culture is training us to believe that you probably cringed reading that. That's kind of my point. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" and James 1:14 proclaims "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" There are others, but you see it is the sin in our lives that makes us unworthy. Our hearts are wicked and if we follow them, we follow death and destruction. Any worth we have comes from the unconditional love of God towards us through His Son, Jesus.

As Christians, we need to be careful of what we believe. We need to test what we hear and not just assume it is accurate based on who is preaching/singing/speaking, etc. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 says "Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good." That is what we need to do. Test what you are putting into your mind against Scripture. That is the ultimate authority on what is right and good. Nothing else. Not our feelings, what our friends/family say, or what sounds nice. Scripture. Period.

Back to the song. There are pieces of that I absolutely agree with. We can be made whole again through God's infinite grace and mercy. No matter what scars we have, nothing can take us from being God's when we are truly His. John 10:28 even says "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" Can I get an AMEN!

My whole point in all of this is to be cautious. Be watchful and serious about what you believe. Know what you know. Put in the effort to process what you are reading/listening to against what Scripture says. Have conversations with your family and friends when you hear comments like "Just follow your heart" or "God will use ____ for good". Encourage those in your circle to test everything to what God says. Let's all live our lives with the true Lord and Master leading the way and not what the culture is working so forcefully to make us believe. God is in control. His Word is 100% accurate and contains all we need. Let's use it. I love you all! Till next time.