By Jeff Brink, October 22, 2024

The world perpetuates the false narrative that inner strength and self-reliance are keys to personal growth and professional advancement. We are conditioned from an early age to avoid painful situations at all costs and seek comfort – success and comfort are good; pain and brokenness are bad.  Although it sounds counter-intuitive, when we experience brokenness, it is actually a blessing from God.

Christianity is not about becoming more comfortable; it’s about becoming more Christlike.  Brokenness should be embraced and celebrated as it creates a permanent sense of God and our neediness.  Brokenness is also the pathway to:

–              Dependence – On God

–              Desperation – A wake-up call. Pain is God’s calling us to Himself

–              Deliverance – God’s power is made perfect in us

Conventional secular thinking is that the more personal achievements you attain at work, the more valuable you become. Many professionals increase their networking activities on the heels of their success, thinking it provides leverage for better opportunities and increased income. In a worldly sense, this is logical and often true. And it is perfectly fine to seek ways to advance and make more money.

However, I challenge you to think differently. When you experience brokenness, don’t go into a fetal position and hide from it. Instead, view it as an opportunity – lean into the brokenness, seek God, and increase your outreach and networking activities. Let God leverage a weakness to magnify Christ and His work through you. 

As the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10, “But Jesus said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

Once we embrace our brokenness and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we realize God’s power works in us and through us. God essentially says, I don’t use what you bring to the table; I use what you surrender to me. That is when we become most valuable to God and His kingdom.