The world is busted up. Something’s not right. We see that fact all around us. We see it within us.
For many, brokenness works itself out as depression, anxiety, fear, or addiction.
Others stay busy achieving, indulging, chasing dreams, climbing ladders, or running away. Whether paralyzed or mobilized by it, we all either numb the feeling or grow numb ourselves.
When we feel that gnawing in our guts, that desire for something more—though we’re not even sure what that “more” is—something in our souls remembers Genesis 1–2. There’s a gaping hole within us that needs to be filled. We’re cracked. Everything is broken. And so we groan with all creation in eager longing for restoration.
Our desire to fix this brokenness is the empirical data that we know things have gone wrong and need to be made right.
We can’t fix it, though. At best, we only smear the mess.
But this inability and lack of satisfaction can be a gift from God.
How?
It drives us to our knees, desperate for the redemption found only in the gospel.
The bad news of brokenness is invaded and conquered by the good news of Jesus Christ’s victory and the freedom He brings to everyone in His kingdom. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t leave His children unclean and in their sinful mess. By His strength, He leads them out of it.
So it’s OK to not be OK—it’s just not OK to stay there.
God, by His resurrected Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms your life for His magnificent purposes. He makes you clean. He rescues you. He gets the glory.
This is the gospel.
This article is an excerpt from the Bible study Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler. For a FREE sample of Recovering Redemption, click here.