It has been observed that for most Christians they must reach a place in their life where their self-dependence is broken so that they abandon their attachment to pride and allow themselves to abide in humility before God. It might be through an external crisis or an internal crisis but we all must go through the process of experiencing the death of the illusion that we are living our Christian life well or that we are truly dependent on God. In other words, we must get to the end of ourselves.
This lack of brokenness, or lack of pliability, manifests itself in many destructive ways in our relationships, some of the most obvious are drivenness, stubbornness, defensiveness, lack of empathy, lack of honest self-awareness, unwillingness to accept help, unwillingness to have vulnerabilities and lack of teachability. Even if we have been a believer for twenty years and are honored in our congregation, prideful unbrokenness can still have a grip on us.
Unbroken people will struggle in Christian leadership. Often, they struggle with problems and the faults of others will be so distressful that in time they will wear down, become discouraged and maybe give up on leading. Broken leaders can focus more on God than themselves and recognize problems and faults as situations that Christform them. In other words, unbrokenness is draining, but brokenness brings peace. Unbroken leaders are a disturbing influence; broken leaders bring health. Thus, it is not wise to place unbroken believers in positions of substantial influence in the body of Christ.
Our role in reaching brokenness is to develop an open heart that is willing to be broken, and then sincerely ask God to show us ourselves and undo us. Then give him time. Once he breaks us, God can make some real progress in our Christformation and fruitfulness.
How do we walk through the brokenness experience? It begins with God giving us the grace of showing us the truth. Then we embrace remorse about our pride and seek to purge it. Then, we receive infilling as we dwell on who God is and all Jesus has done for us in his life, his love for us and the fact that he desires our friendship. Then, we experience Christformation as we accept a posture of humility as Jesus did. Finally, the whole process binds us closer to God and opens the door to participating in more of his nature.
