Each week on Thursdays we highlight a trustworthy discipleship resource that can help you in your mission to make disciples. This week’s post is from Unbroken: Path to Redemption. Fill out the form at the end of this post by Friday, October 19th at 11:59pm to enter for a chance to win this free resource!
What are a few of the most significant moments in your life?
How have those moments shaped your life for good or bad?
Unbroken: Path to Redemption picks up Louis Zamperini’s story at what you would imagine to be a high point. Assumed dead, abused in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, Louis returned home alive. His family rejoiced because their lost son had returned to them. His country lauded him as a hero. Yet when the war ended, Louis’ real battle began. The war wasn’t over just because everyone else said it was.
The war followed Louis home. The trauma he experienced shaped the way he saw the world. His captors tortured him in dreams. He was desperate to find a release from his pain, but his brokenness drove him further into darkness.
Each of us deals with brokenness. How we deal with our brokenness determines the course of our lives. Taking it on ourselves leads to more brokenness. Handing our brokenness to God leads to healing and restoration.
Anyone paying attention will notice the brokenness in the world. Natural disasters, sickness, death, national tragedies—all these events point to the reality that the world isn’t as it should be. It has been broken by sin, and so have we. Today we’ll examine the cause and the cure for brokenness.
What is a time when you felt your brokenness?
What caused the brokenness we experience?
The root cause of brokenness is sin, and the root of all sin is idolatry. Adam and Eve knew God’s standards, but they thought they knew better. They had more faith in their own instincts than in God’s decrees. Their choice led the world into sin. Ever since the garden of Eden, men and women have grappled with sin and brokenness, both as a result of the fall and as a result of their choices.
Fig leaves couldn’t hide Adam and Eve’s brokenness. In fact, they accomplished the opposite effect. The fragile leaves highlighted their nakedness instead of concealing it. When we try to mask our brokenness, the results aren’t more convincing. Feeling broken is a gift from God that’s meant to demonstrate our need for Him.
The good news of the gospel is that we can cry out to God. The brokenness that separates sinful people from a holy God was bridged by the cross of Jesus Christ. When we repent of our sin and we trust in Christ’s perfect life and sacricial death on our behalf, we’re reconciled to God. A new life begins at that very moment.
This was an excerpt from Unbroken: Path to Redemption. Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
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