Life's Healing ChoicesSample

There Is Hope in Admitting You Are Broken If you want to get to a place of hope, first you have to see who God really is. But that’s not all. You also have to be honest and admit the truth about yourself. The truth is, you are broken. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (NLT). I think we all know that. We all know there’s something in us that is broken. As much as we know this is true, there is something in every one of us that wants to hide from that truth and pretend it’s not there instead of just being honest about it. I don’t know about you, but I spend way too much time and energy hiding from this simple truth: I am broken. The thing is, in the end we’re not going to be able to hide from it anyway. Luke 12:2 says, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (NASB). That verse scares the snot out of me. I read that and think, “What? I thought if I could just get through the rest of this life, keep my hurt, habit, or hang-up secret and not tell anybody, when I get to go to Heaven, it will all get erased. If I can just make it until I die, then I’m going to be OK, and nobody will ever know.” Here’s that verse again in the Message paraphrase: “You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known.” In the end, when all is revealed and known, we’re not going to look at each other and go, “Wow! You did that? I’m so disappointed in you. It’s shocking that you did that.” In the end, we’re all going to realize that we’re all the same. We’ve all got the same struggles. We’re all broken. We’re not going to be pointing fingers at each other. We’re going to be pointing at the One who loves us, Jesus Christ, and saying “Thank you! Thank you that you’ve forgiven us all.” There is freedom in understanding this truth. But you don’t have to wait until the end. As you recognize this truth, it brings a new freedom into your life. It brings a new hope into your life. You see who you really are, but you don’t stop there. You see who you really are: broken, and loved. You are loved by the One who knows you best. God’s love will never disappoint you and never give up on you. “I love you with an everlasting love. So I will continue to show you my kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3b GW). This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.