Broken, but Not Defeated: Finding Purpose in Our Humanity

We often hear the phrase, "You're human," like it is suddenly supposed to heal the pain and insecure tendencies that lie deep within the darkest pieces of our broken hearts. We're expected to sit down, shut up, and accept the fact that we are biologically constructed to make mistakes, and then everything else will fall into place just as it should be. However, I don't always find that this phrase is much of a comfort to me when my soul suffers from deep desperation. How can the recurring fact that I'm manufactured never to be able to measure up be comforting? It is during these moments that we question everything around us, to truly find the truth in Jesus Christ, himself.

You see, we often use the term 'blind faith' loosely. Too often, it’s equated with unquestioning acceptance—believing without ever thinking or seeking understanding for ourselves. But I don't believe that's what faith is meant to be. At its core, faith is not about surrendering our minds or our capacity to question; it's about trusting in God's goodness and truth even when we don't have all the answers. I don’t believe we’re supposed to sit down for a church sermon, listen passively, and never open our own Bibles. Faith isn't a passive thing; it's an active pursuit.

The scriptures aren’t meant to be just a set of rules or doctrines we memorize and follow. They are living, breathing words that invite us into a dynamic relationship with God, where we actively engage with what’s written. God didn’t give us the Bible to make us comfortable or to give us all the answers at once, but to guide us toward deeper understanding and transformation. Whenever we read the Word, we should question, 'What is God attempting to reveal to me in this passage? How does this challenge my existing beliefs or assumptions? What deeper truth needs to be uncovered here?'

I believe we should open our Bibles and challenge everything we've ever been taught—not out of a rebellious spirit, but out of a desire for a deeper, more personal truth. God never intended for us to live on someone else’s understanding of Him. There is so much more to discover within the pages of scripture, but we must seek it out with humility and a genuine hunger to know Him more. If we don’t seek the answers ourselves, we miss the personal revelation that God desires to give us. He wants to engage with us individually, not just through the teachings of others.

Ultimately, merely listening to sermons or reading devotional books is insufficient. While these are beneficial, they should not substitute our personal interaction with the Bible. How can God unlock the many answers we are searching for within, without us actively seeking Him out in the place He has promised to meet us—the Word? God has given us the Bible as a living, breathing, transformative document that reveals His heart to us. However, similar to any relationship, if we don't interact with it, it stays remote. We must grapple with the Word, delve deeply into it, pose challenging questions, and have faith that God will guide us to deeper truths in the process. This is the way our faith develops, transitioning from relying on others to cultivating a lively, personal connection with God.

The truth I am attempting to reach here today is this: we are constantly going to be healing from the human side of ourselves. It is a part of us that will forever exist in this lifetime until these bodies draw their last breath. This is what so many people are referring to when they try to comfort us with the fact that we are "human". We are only temporarily here to fall short, and one day, our souls will live on forever, surpassing all that the flesh was capable of indefinitely. What the rest of humanity fails to realize, is that we are not only human. Our souls are always going to be at war with what we call our flesh. This is the exact reason as to why we must not be hard on ourselves on this earth. We become buried in shame, guilt, and self-criticism and we begin to breathe in and choke on the dust of the earth, rather than taking in the sweet aromas of what exists up above us. When we are so incredibly critical of ourselves, we begin to lose sight of the purpose God has bestowed upon our lives: to live for Him.

In this lifetime, mistakes are a necessity, and I am not saying this to give anyone an excuse to go and do whatever it is that pleasures the flesh. Living how you want to simply because we have a loving and forgiving God, does not give a person jurisdiction to sin. I am merely pointing out the fact that mistakes shape us and make us who we are. Our struggle with sin molds us into the people that God would have us to be to lead others from a life of sinfulness to a life of sinlessness. Think back to how God used people in the Bible: Paul, Peter, Rahab, Abraham, Mary Magdelene, Esther, and so many more. These people all had such terrible issues and made terrible mistakes in their lives, yet they are featured and held with such high regard within the oldest and most historically, and archaeologically, accurate book in the history of literature. God used every single one of them in such powerful ways, so what could possibly make your life any different?

What matters in this discussion, is how you treat your relationship with God. Of course, we are bound to mess up, but what do you do when that time comes for you? Do you sulk off into the sheets of your bed? Do you drink your stress and anguish away? Do you listen to music that will make you angry so that you won't have to face your deep and painful emotions? Do you run away from God, coated in these dense layers of fog that we call shame and guilt? How are you negatively dealing with your shortcomings... and how can you improve the way you deal with them? How are you battling your flesh? At the end of the day, we are a part of something so much greater than anything else you could even fathom; this is war. And we must fight until the day Jesus returns to take us home.

Prayer:

"Dear God, my Savior, please sit with me for a while. Please tell me that my humanity is necessary. I need you to give my soul a purpose far greater than the mistakes my flesh is faced battle with. Help me to make you my everything, the way we are yours and breathe your life into my body, mind, and soul when it is trying its hardest to drain from me. Remind me of all the heavenly parts of myself that you will use for your Kingdom work and your glory. Give me the discipline I need to push the pleasures of the world away and to pull you in closer. Help me to dive into your word more so that I can be healed from the inside, out. My heart and my soul, hunger for you in ways that words are incapable of describing. I love you, Lord. Thank you for all that you have done for me and revealed to me.

In Jesus' Name, I pray,

Amen."

Verses:

• Romans 7:14-25 - "14) For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15) For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16) Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17) So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18) For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19) For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20) Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21) So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22) For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23) but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25) Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin."

• James 1:5-6 - "5) Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 6) But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind."

• Galatians 5:16-18 - "16) I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17) For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

• Romans Chapter 8*

Reflection:

Ask Yourself:

• How do you respond to God when your flesh sins?

• How do you negatively deal with your shortcomings? Positively?

• How can you improve the way you respond in these situations?

• What boundaries can you place to prevent these situations from happening?

• Are you seeking God in every instance that you fall short, or are you letting the mistake go to waste?