May 14, 2015 | The Encouragement of a Broken Spirit

I was feeling a bit down and sorry for myself. Some leadership struggles were not going well. At church, the rain-soaked congregation just didn’t have the “feel” of momentum in the Lord like it does on most Sundays. God’s Word was rich, as always, but I didn’t feel particularly effective teaching it.

Appropriately, the study was on David the broken man. Think on that for a moment and you will surely chuckle. Thankfully, I was motivated to follow David’s lead and find my correction and solace in the Lord. As always, He was more than enough. I ended up convicted, encouraged and joyful.

And our God is lavish in His love and restoration. When I opened my mail late that night, I found a flood of encouraging notes from wonderful fellow broken followers of Jesus. Here are a few:

Thank you for underscoring the importance of admitting our brokenness and confessing our sins to others. Thank you for all you do to shepherd our flock so well – even in the midst of your own storms.

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I could hardly wait to journal my thoughts after today’s sermon. I was especially challenged with the idea that a listing of details and expression of tears does not necessarily equate repentance … naming them in light of how serious God sees them, and in a spirit of true confession, is a much more difficult process. Just like spring cleaning the corners and crevices of our home, the more I uncover and confess, the more grime I find. Eeek and gross! As soon as I left second service, I grabbed [one of the pastors] and confessed the ugliness of being overly critical. He made some good discipline suggestions – most of which are hard! Thank you again for allowing God to use you in a most effective and personal way.

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Thank you for the great message today. We love Frisco Bible. It’s hard to find a church nowadays that talks about sin and repentance.

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If you want to further think through David’s sin and the parallels in our lives, I recommend The paper “The Bathsheba Syndrome: The Ethical Failure of Successful Leaders.” Written by Dean C. Ludwig and Clinton O. Longenecker, it explores the role success plays in our egregious sins. They show how the dark side of success for many people includes loss of strategic focus, control of resources, privileged access, and inflated reckoning of personal ability. You can easily find the paper online. [It was originally published in The Journal of Business Ethics in 1993, pages 265-273.]

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Here’s the power of brokenness in my life: Before I started joined up with [an FBC] discipleship group, my life was fine. I had a wife and 2 kids who loved me. I was going to weekly Bible Study, and I went to church. I had a good job and made plenty of money to feel comfortable and provide for my family. I was floating and even somewhat drifting and didn’t even know it. I had arrived and was living the “American Dream.” The problem is we are not called to live the American Dream, which tells us to accumulate as much stuff as we can and demonstrate to others how great we are in our own strength. We are called to a new life in Christ. We are told, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2). Jesus tells us to “pick up our cross daily and follow Him” (Luke 9:23). I had to be broken before I could thrive. God told me that he expected more of me. … that I needed to start doing hard things and get out of my comfort zone … that I needed to man up and stand firm in the faith (1 Corinthians 16:13). I now want to live a radical life that makes a difference in this dark world. I want to leave an amazing legacy for my kids to follow. I don’t want to accept mediocrity. I want to reject passivity. I want to accept responsibility. I want to lead courageously. I want to invest eternally. These are things I didn’t want before. This is what discipleship does for you. It works. It changes your heart.

Friend, if that doesn’t spur you on toward love and good deeds, someone needs to check and make sure you have a pulse. Seriously, I pray the Lord also edifies you through the encouragement of brokenness.