Jesus’ Passion for My Brokenness

May 9, 2014           Jesus’ Passion for My Brokenness

“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

Colossians 1:19-20

The way of weakness was the way of the Cross for God in Christ Jesus. This is the price God paid to release me and you from the oppression of sin, brokenness and death. The nature of my particular brokenness is rooted in shame-based self-hate. Shame isolates. We are never quite good enough to belong. Shame is the feeling associated with being an inadequate human being. Each and every day I get to make a choice. I get to live under the oppressive shame of my former life; or I get to live as the beloved child of God. I get to make this latter choice because “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus wants me to see that in my brokenness, my weakness, he is strong.  It is when I embrace my brokenness that I can identify with Christ and with others.  Jesus wants me to identify with the pain of others, not relieve it; he wants me to care for others, not try and fix them.

As I learn to have patience in my brokenness, Jesus’ Word of Grace reminds me that neither my self-accusation, nor my self-disgust can separate me from him. My needs are fulfilled in faith because my painful feelings, my self- contempt and regret about my brokenness, are not my true identify. I am what I am by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10), not by my own humiliating definitions. I am fully known, yet totally justified by faith through grace. Nothing, neither my outward actions, nor my inner feelings can diminish the worth given to me in the grace of God. (I am so very grateful for Peter Steinke’s article, I Hate Myself  (The Lutheran, 1990) in helping me to understand my brokenness of self-hate and to embrace God’s healing grace.)

I need to hear these affirmations from Jesus, over and over again. This is the air I breathe, his holy presence living in me. This is my daily bread, his word spoken to me. And I'm desperate for him. And, I'm lost without Jesus, my friend forever. (Breathe, ©1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing, Words and Music by Marie Barnett)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.