Our world is full of broken people. Too many of us live our lives with shattered hopes, unmet expectations, and life disappointments. Joyous moments seem serendipitous at best. So we find solace in alcohol and drugs. I’m not talking about the seedier elements of our society; rather, the mainstream of boomers, to genX, on down to our emerging generations. We are addicted more to virtual reality than to real reality. We are defective.
This can be traced, basically, back to our first rejection of God’s protection in the Garden. But this is too simple, too overarching an explanation. A more contemporary clarification would be our own propensity to put God out of our lives and replace Him with our own desires in life. We chose to be defective rather than safe within His security.
There is hope, but it requires an admission that we are not whole. And we need to admit it. Defective, broken, incomplete, whatever; we are not what we could be. Redefining reality does not make it so. Get used to it.
What we need is a hunger to be transformed beyond who we are today, into something we cannot imagine. But how do we get there? Suggestions are on the table—
- Reexamine your strengths. Are they still your strengths? How have they developed, changed, weakened?
- Reexamine your weaknesses. Come on, you have them. Can’t think of any? Ask someone who loves you.
- Confess your failings with God and with others. You know you have let other people down. You know you have stepped outside of the perimeters of Christ’s protection for you. Confess it. Seek restoration.
- Actively seek to make a difference in our world. Maybe inside the church, more likely outside it. Our society, our world, needs people like you who care and are willing to get dirty in the filth of life.
- Sacrifice. Doesn’t matter what. Sacrifice is different for all of us. Surrender what you do not need in the context of your own situation.
- Lighten up. Christ has forgiven us for our rebellion and cleansed us. Don’t heap guilt on another.
- Count on your holiness to come through. Christ has declared us holy (I Peter 1:16). Trust in His gift to undergird your commitments. It is amazing!
- Accept Christ’s forgiveness for your rebellions & failures. ‘Nough said.
Sure, we are defective. But that is not how it is supposed to be. I truly believe that it is only the God of the Universe who can get hold of us to flip our defective characteristics into powerful ones, so that we can make a difference among those who don’t know the difference.
Yes, we are defective. But there is always hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NEXT— “The word of the Lord came to me… .”
Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,
Clueless Christianity 