Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Last weekend Christ Church’s Open Door Singles Ministry, along with First Centenary’s Positive Christian Singles, held a singles conference with the theme Wholly Single. We were blessed in two general sessions and three breakout sessions with music, messages, and presentations that focused on being whole in body, mind, and spirit.
I was fortunate to deliver the afternoon keynote address and shared my journey of faith. I spoke about our search for wholeness by examining our brokenness.
The word brokenness can mean fractured like an arm or incomplete like a broken set of books. It also means that something is not functioning or out of order like a broken dishwasher. When words are spoken with gaps and errors, we call it broken English. A broken cell call is one that has conversations with intermittent starts and stops. For the most part, we know whom to call on to fix these broken things.
But we as human beings experience brokenness too.
When vows aren’t kept, we experience broken promises.
When we become weak or ill, we experience broken health.
When we are crushed by grief, we experience broken hearts.
When life seems to overwhelm us, we cry in broken sobs.
When we are torn apart by divorce or separation or desertion, we have broken homes and broken marriages.
When our finances spin out of control, we are “broke.”
When we don’t take special care of our bodies, we feel broken.
When we don’t feed our minds with positive thoughts, we act in broken ways.
And when we are totally humbled, we have a broken spirit.
I think we’ll agree it’s hard to fix human brokenness. Our brokenness comes in two primary ways: by choice or by circumstance. Sometimes we make bad choices that lead to our brokenness. Sometimes other people’s choices lead to our brokenness. And then finally, sometimes the circumstances of lives over which we have no control cause our brokenness.
The only real healing is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He alone will make us truly whole. He takes our brokenness and our weakness and gives us strength as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10.
I was fortunate to deliver the afternoon keynote address and shared my journey of faith. I spoke about our search for wholeness by examining our brokenness.
The word brokenness can mean fractured like an arm or incomplete like a broken set of books. It also means that something is not functioning or out of order like a broken dishwasher. When words are spoken with gaps and errors, we call it broken English. A broken cell call is one that has conversations with intermittent starts and stops. For the most part, we know whom to call on to fix these broken things.
But we as human beings experience brokenness too.
When vows aren’t kept, we experience broken promises.
When we become weak or ill, we experience broken health.
When we are crushed by grief, we experience broken hearts.
When life seems to overwhelm us, we cry in broken sobs.
When we are torn apart by divorce or separation or desertion, we have broken homes and broken marriages.
When our finances spin out of control, we are “broke.”
When we don’t take special care of our bodies, we feel broken.
When we don’t feed our minds with positive thoughts, we act in broken ways.
And when we are totally humbled, we have a broken spirit.
I think we’ll agree it’s hard to fix human brokenness. Our brokenness comes in two primary ways: by choice or by circumstance. Sometimes we make bad choices that lead to our brokenness. Sometimes other people’s choices lead to our brokenness. And then finally, sometimes the circumstances of lives over which we have no control cause our brokenness.
The only real healing is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He alone will make us truly whole. He takes our brokenness and our weakness and gives us strength as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
To listen to the audio recording of me speech, click on this link http://www.christplace.org/dev/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=793:first-annual-singles-conference&catid=94:articles&Itemid=102
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