Is My Faith Fractured? 

It didn’t look broken at first. My nephew, who is an offensive lineman in college today, was only seven at the time. He had been quietly climbing the little tree in my sister’s backyard when he suddenly fell. His screams alerted us that something was wrong. We went outside to see what happened. My sister checked him out from head to toe and narrowed down his pain to his arm. Yet despite his pain, the arm didn’t look broken. There wasn’t even any swelling on the outside. Pain was the only sign that something was wrong. Eventually, my sister did take him to the Emergency Department where an X-ray was done and revealed a fracture of the radius. He was in a cast for six weeks waiting for healing to take place.

Most Christians whose faith is fractured don’t look broken on the outside. They show up to church and say all the right things. They go through the motions. They look normal enough that the signs of their fractured faith are easy to miss. Yet much like a fractured bone, it’s the pain in our souls that alerts us that something is wrong. 

Pain is an interesting phenomenon. People deal with pain in a number of different ways. Some cry at the first sign of pain. Others stoically hold their tears back and act like nothing is wrong. But ask anyone who is hurting, pain is the first sign that something is wrong. 

When it comes to the deconstruction of your faith, pain is your clue to pay attention. Don’t fall to the temptation to ignore your pain. Resist the temptation to numb your pain with what feels good. It’s easy to become cynical and apathetic. It’s easy to act like nothing is wrong. Most of us choose to put a band-aid on our wounds until our wounds begin to fester. We try isolating ourselves from others in the hopes that no one will notice just how much we’re hurting. We do everything in our power to ignore our pain until our pain becomes too great to ignore. 

Are you hurting today? Pain may be the first sign that your faith is deconstructing. Follow your pain and see where it goes. Is your pain drawing you closer to God, or are you wondering where God is in your pain? Is your pain causing your heart to grow harder or become more tender? If there is a fracture in your faith, the first thing to do is to figure out exactly where it’s broken and get the help you need for healing to take place.