Heart Tracks - Abundant And Broken

"Then He took a loaf of bread; and when He had thanked God for it, He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples saying, 'This is My body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." Luke 22:19........"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

The title of this writing may sound like a contradiction to some. How can anyone be abundant and broken at the same time? It just doesn't seem possible. Being broken, living in brokenness, is not an attractive picture for many. Most will do all within their power to avoid such a state, and a very large number of them are professing followers of Jesus Christ. We are quick to buy into His words concerning having the abundant life He promises in John. Especially as we would define abundance. I saw a book today titled, "Will Jesus Give Me A Double-Wide Home, Because I Need More Room For My Plasma TV?" A comical title to be sure, but not so comical if we were to admit our real heart attitude as to what life in Him should be. Too many of us define abundance as having "more of," and "bigger than." We hear His promise of abundance. We don't hear His invitation to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings....which is where true abundance begins, and flows out of.

Writer and speaker Ann Voskamp asks the question, "How do we live an abundant life in a broken world?" More, how do we live an abundant life in the midst of our own brokenness? The key, as always, is found in the life of Christ. The disciples had little idea of the extent of what He was saying when He served them communion in the upper room. He was giving them, and us, more than a sacrament to practice as a means of remembering Him. In the giving up of His broken body for us, He was providing through His brokenness, the means to true spiritual abundance. To those who are His, He invites us into that same sacrifice and that same brokenness....that we might not only have abundant life, but be vessels of it to a broken world....through our own brokenness.

In His brokenness, Jesus gave of Himself to those who were also broken. We all, whether knowing it or not, are broken. When we know this, our flesh tendency is to hide. Christ life has as it's desire to give....of itself.....abundantly. Pain doesn't make us run away from Him, but to Him....and then through Him to others who are also broken. We don't fear our own brokenness because we discover that in Him, we find healing and wholeness. We then do not fear the brokenness of others, but in Him, become His agents of taking His healing and wholeness to them as well. We are broken, then we are blessed in our brokenness. We are then fit to become His blessing to a lost and broken world. We are living lives that at the same time are both abundant and broken. Are we living such lives right now?

Are you living in broken place right now? Don't fear it, deny it, or run from it. Embrace that place in Him, and in the embracing, find His wholeness and healing. You will know His abundance as well as His brokenness.....and you will be, for the broken lives He puts you in front of.....the richest of His blessings.

Blessings,
Pastor O