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Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.

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Brokenness on Display

Jason VanaJason Vana

Photo Credit: Kathryn Cartwright (Creative Commons)

We don’t like sharing our brokenness.
We aren’t naturally inclined to put our weakness on display.

We would rather hide our mistakes, cover up our faults, mask our weaknesses and brokenness, and pretend our areas of sin and shame don’t exist.

It’s how Adam and Eve responded when they sinned.

Scriptures say when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, their eyes were opened, they recognized good from evil, saw they were naked, and felt shame.

So they covered themselves with leaves.
And hid from God.

They didn’t want God to see the mistake they made. They didn’t want to put their areas of weakness and vulnerability on display, both physically and emotionally. They knew they were flawed, they saw their brokenness, and they wanted to hide.

It’s what we continue to do today.

We put on a mask, hide our areas of brokenness and sin and shame, and pretend that everything is okay.
Especially within the church.

We’ll praise God, lift our hands, talk about how the message impacted us, even attend the social fellowship events in an attempt to build community, but don’t let anyone see our brokenness.

The first century church took a different approach.

“They [the early disciples] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42

The first followers of Christ devoted themselves to fellowship. They committed themselves to building true community.

This fellowship wasn’t about social events and bonfires and church softball leagues.

The word translated as fellowship in the above verse is the Greek word κοινωνία (koinónia), and means: partnership, participation, communion, communication – the share one has in anything.

It also carries the connotation of intercourse – not of sexual intercourse, but of a deep, intimate bond with one other.

The early church was devoted to knowing each other.

They wrestled past their insecurities, did the hard work of taking off their masks, and learned everything they could about each other.

They knew each other’s dreams and desires. They knew each other’s fears and failures. They knew each other’s strengths and abilities. They knew each other’s brokenness and weakness. They knew what made each other passionate, and what made each other apathetic. They knew the fears and desires, struggles and sins, shame and regrets. They even knew each other’s deep dark secrets.

And they saw God add to their numbers every single day.

Because deep down, we all want to be known.
We all desire for people to know who we really are.
We all crave that intimacy, spend our lives searching for the One, searching for that friend, longing for that group of people who truly accept us warts and all.

Intimacy, that deep bonding with others, only comes when we allow others to see our brokenness.
It only happens when we put our weaknesses on display.

We won’t ever experience the depth of relationships and acceptance we’re looking for until we gather the courage to take off the masks and facades we put up and let people into our darkness.

The world doesn’t need to see our masks. They don’t need to see how we cover up our brokenness and pretend to be perfect.

The world needs to see us displaying our brokenness, and finding that acceptance and love in the midst of a true community.

When they see that, it will draw them to the risen Christ.

Who can you open up to this week and allow to see your brokenness?

Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.