Brokenness to Holiness

Do you have an unbridled, wild, and rogue spirit, unable to be used by the Master? Or have you learned the biblical secret of brokenness—an obedient and submissive vessel doing the Father’s will?

January’s Awakening, Day 27

Things that are holy are revealed only to men who are holy.

 —Hippocrates

The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to the power of God.

 —Blaise Pascal 

Holiness consists of doing the will of God with a smile.

 —Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit. This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:16b–17 NIV

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:11–12, 17 NIV   

            Why do you think some individuals just seem to be more holy or progress into the holiness realm more quickly? What attribute or characteristic do you think they possess that allows them to reach these greater heights faster? Dedication and persistence? You may be surprised at what I think is the true factor that allows holiness to progress rapidly and to blossom into beauty—brokenness. Not the brokenness we typically think of—that of being fractured or shattered or nonfunctional—but the biblical idea of brokenness.

The biblical brokenness is most in tune with the equestrian idea of brokenness. A wild stallion is truly a beauty to behold but not of much use to its master, or has no master at all. Biblical brokenness is not so much to destroy one’s spirit, but to tame it, train it, refocus it, and control it, such that it becomes ever obedient and submissive to God. Who better than your Master, the One who created you, to know the absolute best for you? After all, isn’t that precisely what Jesus’s life was all about, “Not my will, but thy will be done”?