Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
The Lord wants you and me to be holy and happy. He wants us to experience true and complete freedom, peace, joy, and much more. And he uses many means to accomplish his goals. Some of the means God uses to change us to have the character of Christ are obvious: prayer, Bible reading & reflection, spiritual mentoring/discipleship, participation in worship celebrations, serving God, and the like. Most of these we easily like and appreciate. But there are ways God uses to mold us to have the character of Christ that are not as obvious or as easily likeable. One of those is breaking experiences. But they are very effective and, ultimately, very helpful. Breaking experiences are situations (and people) that stretch and test our patience, character, and faith. But if we allow them to bring maturity, wisdom, correction, and character formation in our lives, we will benefit greatly because we will truly change. Now in practical and concrete terms, the old us will progressively be gone and the new us will progressively come (be formed). This pleases our heavenly Father so much. May the Lord open the eyes of your heart today as we talk about brokenness. And may you embrace like Jesus did and the apostles and prophets did the breaking experiences that God allows so that you can shed off ungodly, selfish, and immature thought patterns & ways, and allow the beauty of Christ’s character to be seen in you. God’s highest blessings on you and your family and ministry this week! Lathur Badoy