broken metamorphosis

Marty and I were talking about brokenness. Actually it went down more like he was wondering why God would choose to use him when he is broken. It was without a half millisecond of hesitation that I knew the answer and I told him. I told him God uses him, He uses him powerfully, in other's lives to display the light of Christ because he is humbly broken.

Last night someone precious to me shared how God is doing a huge change in her life. She called it her metamorphosis. So that got my brain a'working a whole heck of a lot more about this subject. This subject of my brokenness. Cause I have been broken. I am broken. And I will be broken again. Is my brokenness my metamorphosis?

It's no wonder at this same time, the time of examining my brokenness, that God has been reminding me of His endless love.

"the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting" Psalm 103:17 ESV

God's love never runs out and cannot be used up. It is never ending. God's love is all powerful, immeasurable, indescribable, new every morning, kind and gentle, passionate, perfect, personable, pure, powerful, priceless, and so much more!

"God is love" 1 John 4:8 ESV

How is it that this perfect God of endless love can use me? Broken me. Broken from disappointment and rejection. Broken from unmet expectations set by myself and others. Broken by a consistent cycle of grief and transitions that so many other MKs (missionary kids) know all too well. Broken and wounded by this world. Broken by sickness and the death of those I have loved. Broken by the knowledge that every day people are dying and will suffer a Christ-less eternity. Broken by the depravity of this world. Broken by my own personal sin and need for a Savior. Broken by the reality that 180 million do not have access to God's Word. Broken.

"Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you were called into this life. I don't see many of 'the brightest and the best' among you, not many influential, not many from high-society family. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these 'nobodies' to expose the hollow pretensions of the 'somebodies'?" 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 MSG

God chooses the weak and the powerless. He chooses the nobodies of this world!

And often as I am discovering in my life, He allows hardship that will bring brokenness. Look at Paul's testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, 30:

"Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm... I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am."

He continues in chapter 12, and this is where I want to make emphasis. Paul speaks of a thorn in his flesh that was given to keep him from being proud because of the revelations he was given from the Lord. Read verses eight and nine with me (again from the NLT version):

"Three different times I begged the Lord to take it (thorn) away. Each time He said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.'"

Not only does God choose the weak and powerless, but He allows us to be made weak and powerless. Humble brokenness, the sort that Paul spoke of, and the kind I see so generously displayed in the man I love most, is desired by the Lord. Even my brokenness.

"The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God." Psalm 51:17 NLT

Watch this, okay?

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this treasure." 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT

What light? Why must we be fragile? What is this treasure?

Here is how Priscilla Shirer describes these clay jars, the light and treasure it in her Gideon study, "The pitchers' (clay jars) importance didn't come from their composition but from their contents. The pitchers' importance came from their weakness. The pitchers' frailty benefited their ultimate purpose - allowing the light to be seen. The weaknesses we often despise are required for the light of Christ to be seen. Without the limitations and deficiencies of our vessels, we would not serve our purpose well. Your weakness is not a liability. It is one of your greatest assets."

Being broken and weak, being a nobody of this world, being powerless and frail is okay. It's more than okay. It has the potential to allow you and I to be brought to a place of complete and utter dependence on God alone. And there in the weakest and wimpiest place, completely broken, display the greatest Light and His power.

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" John 8:12 NKJV

One more point, k? This treasure, this gift we have been given, it is meant to be shared. (This is why we do what we do!) "If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing." 2 Corinthians 4:3 NLT

Is my brokenness my metamorphosis? I think the answer is 'yes'. A whooping and hollering 'yes'! A praise you Jesus 'yes'! My humble brokenness is not my liability. It is one of my greatest assets. He is using me, broken me, to let His light shine through me.

"This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT