“Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, by saying: Repent, intended that the whole life of believers should be repentance.”- Martin Luther, Ninety-five Theses
“Repent and believe in the gospel.”- Mark 1:15
In Chapter 12 (“Breaking Your Brokenness”) of The Broken Way, Ann Voskamp begins by citing Timothy Keller. Pastor Keller once wrote: “The joy of the Lord happens inside the sorrow.”
Yet, Ann notes, you can’t know how deeply Christ loves you until you see the depths of your own brokenness. This requires patience, as Ms. Voskamp observes: “Be patient with God’s patient work in you.” (emphasis Ann’s)
Furthermore, when your heart breaks, your response must allow the brokenness to transform into abundance. Therefore, repentance forms a foundational thesis of life, as Martin Luther stated in the first of his Ninety-five Theses.
As a result, one cannot reduce repentance to a single act at the beginning of one’s Christian walk. Otherwise, Ann cautions, you reduce your whole Christian life to an act of posturing and pretense. Hence, Ann explores the benefits of repentance:
“Repent. You are broken and you don’t have to pretend you are not. What a relief. Repent. . . . You begin to break your brokenness when you break down with your brokenness — when you hand it over to the One broken for you. . . . Repentance is what keeps turning you around, around, sanding you down, re-forming you, remaking you — making you into real.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses, Christian books/songs, enable you to transform your brokenness into abundance? Please share.
Coming Monday: the Christmas Short Meditation, “Tinsel in a tangle”
Tomorrow’s blog: “The seed broken open”
