Jesus was broken for me.

I was talking to my dear friend the other day and she asked how I was doing.  "You know," I said, "Not awesome.  Some days I feel the weight of my brokenness more than others.  Today is one of those days."

We had a good discussion about how hard it is to truly face our brokenness.  To see myself as I really am.  When my brokenness rears its ugly head and I am exposed, I feel ashamed and want to hide from those around me.  The ugliness of my sin nature and brokenness is so oppressive.  I find myself playing ignorant to my brokenness or minimizing it-anything to not have to face it.  Facing my brokenness is painful.  But God in His goodness to me, (yes, it is His goodness!), continues to expose me to my brokenness.

When I force myself to stand in front of the mirror and face the reality of my sinfulness I am quickly bound by the chains of who I should be, or what I should not have done.  How I am failing or never will figure it out.   Inadequate.  Not enough.  A slave to my brokenness.  As a frail mortal, I am unable to break out of my bondage.  In fact, the harder I try, the more flesh the chains rip from my body.

With Easter Sunday coming, I've been thinking about the cross.  I keep hearing the verse "This is my body which was broken for you...." roll through my head.  It took a 3hour drive on Good Friday with no radio reception for it to sink in.

"This is my body which was broken for you...."

Jesus was broken for me.  

I am not the only one who feels the weight of my brokenness.  Jesus felt it too.  
And it broke Him.  

It broke Him to the point that He was sweating blood.  It broke Him so much that he willingly endured scourging after scourging.  Insult after insult.  Shame upon shame. 

He felt the weight of our brokenness so we could experience the unmatched joy of being redeemed.  To heal us from our brokenness.  To make us new.

Oh, what love!

The cross is the bridge between my brokenness, inadequacies and failures and the eternal, perfect, holy God.

The struggle is real.  My failures are huge.  My brokenness is great.   My God is perfect, holy, righteous, and just.  The distance between my brokenness and His holiness is seemingly too great. 

But the more accurately I see my brokenness and the more fully I understand His holiness, the greater my need for a Savior.  The cross grows in my life. 

"I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."  Galatians 2:20 

Oh God, may my deeper awareness of my sinfulness and broader understanding of Your perfect holiness, only serve to magnify the cross in my life!   MY REDEEMER LIVES!

1 Peter 2:24 "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds you have been healed."