Don’t exactly know why I was thinking about this, but it is a truth that has become more real to me as my journey progresses:

Everybody’s broken.

No, this isn’t a “downer” post. Honest, I’m not depressed. See, I’m smiling: 🙂

But it’s true. Not only were we all born with a fallen nature, but in a world filled with fallen people it is literally impossible to walk through this life without sustaining some kind of wounding–whether it be physical or emotional. For those who will chose it, we spend a good part of our life in some process of recovering from those wounds. For others, sadly, their brokenness dominates them throughout life. But it’s important to understand and remember this idea, not just on a philosophical “nobody’s perfect” level, but as a truth that affects our actions.

Why? you might be asking.

Because we deal with broken people differently than we deal with perfect ones.

Face it–we all have expectations of others, and quite often those expectations go unmet. When we forget that everybody’s broken, we either set our expectations too high to begin with, or we react badly when the person fails to meet a reasonable expectation. It isn’t that we shouldn’t expect the best of one another, because we should. The question is, how do we respond when the other person fails or disappoints us? Because they will, at some point. People will fail us. How do we respond to that?

That is the moment when it is important to remember that everybody’s broken. Perfect people don’t need mercy, grace, forgiveness, understanding, or another chance. Broken people need all of these things. (Sometimes broken people do need a kick in the pants, too…but we’ll save that one for another post.)

The point is, remembering that everybody’s broken–ourselves included–gives us perspective in those moments, and should help us understand the need for forgiveness. Jesus told us not to judge, lest we be judged ourselves. He also said if we don’t forgive ourselves, we won’t be forgiven. He once told a group of religious types they were free to stone a woman caught in adultery, provided that they themselves were without sin. (Needless to say, the woman went free.)

In my younger years, even understanding in my head that everyone was broken…it didn’t affect my heart very much. I had high expectations of others, and had little patience with people who didn’t meet them. But as, over time, God has made me face and deal with my own brokenness, I think I’ve learned a lot more how to deal graciously with the brokenness in others. I know I need forgiveness when I fail, and remembering that helps me extend forgiveness when someone else fails.

Besides the need in all of us for forgiveness, mercy and tolerance…here are some other things about everybody’s brokenness that are worth mentioning:

  • Broken people create amazing things. Look at the achievements of mankind throughout history, in science, art, architecture, engineering, medicine, inventions, technology, etc. Every advancement was invented or discovered by a broken person.
  • Broken people are capable of beauty. The most broken among us can still say something profound, or do something kind.
  • Broken people still carry the image of God. Some might try to dispute this theologically, but I don’t believe the image of God went away when man fell. Corrupted, yes–removed, no. Some of the most Christlike actions ever seen since Christ Himself walked the earth have been done by broken people–some of whom are not even Christ followers.
  • Broken people have mixed motives. This is important to know, because even for people we think are “good”, or who consistently show forth Christlikeness, there is usually some mixture in the motives when they do something good. That doesn’t necessarily ruin the good that is done; it just means that good thing didn’t happen in a sterile environment. (The truth is, I am suspicious of people who give off the appearance of being totally good or perfect–who never fly off the handle, who never seem to get upset, who never get discouraged. I wonder what they are hiding.) We aren’t made to be put on pedastals, no matter how good people think we are.
This isn’t to promote an “I’m ok, you’re ok” way of thinking. I still believe that since the fall of man, any good we do comes from God. I also believe those who follow Christ should be on a path of transformation to be like Him, and that we are just as capable of giving ourselves over completely to evil. Mostly this is just to say that, as I said in that last point, this isn’t a sterile environment. Just because someone seems to do everything right doesn’t mean they are incapable of failure, and just because someone is a pain in the ass doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of beauty or in need of mercy. This is why how “good” or “bad” we behave is irrelevant when it comes to our need for redemption.

We all fail, and we all need mercy. Everybody’s broken. But the most important thing to remember about broken people is that Christ believed they (read: we) were all worth dying for. If He thought that much of us, and if He (the only perfect one) remembered that we are but dust…are the other broken people in this world less eligible for our mercy than we are of His?

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Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.