PRIDEFUL OR BROKEN, WHICH ARE YOU?

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog called "Brokenness Manor, God's Second Home." I have been thinking and reading much lately on brokenness. It is the place where I dwell in this season of my journey. I described brokenness in this way.:

Brokenness is not merely a one time act, it is a way of life. It may come out of a spiritual turning point or points. It is a lifestyle, a day to day, moment by moment way of agreeing with God about the true condition of our life for one microsecond apart from Him. It s agreeing with Jesus that "apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:7). It is the posture of surrender and submission of my self will to the will of God. It involves submitting to the place where He has us and adapting to the pace He is moving in our lives. Pay attention to those two key words: SURRENDER and SUBMISSION.

Remember where God says He lives back in Isaiah 57:15? "“I dwell...also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit." . That word "contrite" is one way the Old Testament puts brokenness. It literally means to be crushed into powder, to be pulverized. What is God looking to be pulverized in my life? Not my spirit, not my soul, not my heart, not who I am; He wants to break my self will. By doing that the life and spirit of God is released to me, in me, and through me before God and my fellow man. God desires to strip away all self reliance and independence and to cause us to totally depend up his grace working in and through us. What does it look like? John describes it this way in 1 John 1:7, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin".

A broken man or woman lives in free, transparent honesty and humility before God. That is the joyous freedom of walking in the light. Our lives are open and exposed before Him who knows and sees all. Oh what freedom and eased burdens are there in life when we live this way before God!

The result of this leads to a whole new way of living with others. A person broken before God also will be broken and humble before others as well. One person describes brokenness like a house with a roof and walls. God wants to blow the roof off (brokenness towards God) and the walls must come down (brokenness before man). God's richest blessings come only through brokenness.

What are the ways that you can determine whether or not you are a broken person or a prideful person? Nancy Leigh DeMoss provides excellent guidelines for the Christian who desires to "walk humbly with your God" (Micah.6:8). She gives 35 observations on identifying whether or not you are a prideful person or a broken person.

Open your heart to the holy Spirit as you read this and let Him minister grace, healing, conviction, truth, repentance, and brokenness to us all.

I. Attitudes Toward Others

Proud people focus on the failures of others and can readily point out those faults.
Broken people are more conscious of their own spiritual need than of anyone else's.
Proud people have a critical, faultfinding spirit. They look at everyone else's faults with a microscope but view their own with a telescope.
Broken people are compassionate-they have the kind of love that overlooks a multitude of sins; they can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven.
Proud people are especially prone to criticize those in positions of authority-their pastor, their boss, their husband, their parents-and they talk to others about the faults they see.
Broken people reverence, encourage, and lift up those that God has placed in positions of authority, and they talk to God in intercession, rather than gossiping about the faults they see in others.
Proud people are self-righteous; they think highly of themselves and look down on others.
Broken people think the best of others; they esteem others as better than themselves.
Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.
Broken people have a dependent spirit; they recognize their need for God and others.

II. Attitudes About Rights

Proud people have to prove that they are right-they have to get the last word.
Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.
Proud people claim rights and have a demanding spirit.
Broken people yield their rights and have a meek spirit.
Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.
Broken people are self-denying and self-sacrificing.

III. Attitudes About Service and Ministry

Proud people desire to be served-they want life to revolve around them and their needs.
Broken people are motivated to serve others and to be sure others' needs are met before their own.
Proud people desire to be known as a success.
Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others successful.
Proud people have a feeling-conscious or subconscious -that "this ministry(or this organization) is privileged to have me and my gifts." They focus on what they can do for God.
Broken people have a heart attitude that says, "I don't deserve to have any part in this ministry"; they know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their broken lives.

 IV. Attitudes About Recognition

Proud people crave self-advancement.
Broken people desire to promote others
Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts.
Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled God would use them at all.
Proud people get wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.
Broken people are eager for others to get credit, and they rejoice when others are lifted up.
Proud people are elated by praise and deflated by criticism.
Broken people know that any praise of their accomplishments belongs to the Lord and that criticism can help them grow into spiritual maturity.

V. Attitudes About Themselves

Proud people feel confident in how much they know.
Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn.
Proud people are self-conscious; they worry about what others think of them.
Broken people are not preoccupied with what others think of them.
Proud people are concerned about appearing respectable; they are driven to protect their image and reputation.
Broken people are concerned with being real; they care less about what others think than about what God knows-they are willing to die to their own reputation.
Proud people can't bear to fail or for anyone to think they are less than perfect. This can drive them to extremes-workaholic tendencies, perfectionism, the tendency to drive others or to place unrealistic expectations on themselves or others.
Broken people can recognize and live within God-given limitations.

VI. Attitudes About Relationships

Proud people keep others at arm's length.
Broken people are willing to take the risks of getting close to others and loving intimately.
Proud people are quick to blame others.
Broken people accept personal responsibility and can acknowledge where they were wrong in a situation.
Proud people wait for others to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or a breach in a relationship.
Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled, no matter how wrong the other party may have been.
Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when corrected.
Broken people receive correction with a humble, open spirit.
Proud people find it difficult to discuss their spiritual needs with others.
Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs.
Proud people try to control the people and circumstances around them- they are prone to manipulate.
Broken people trust in God- they rest in Him and are able to wait for Him to act on their behalf.
Proud people become bitter and resentful when they are wronged; they have emotional temper tantrums; they hold others hostage and are easily offended; they carry grudges and keep a record of others' wrongs.
Broken people give thanks in all things; they are quick to forgive those who wrong them.

Praying for brokenness to characterize myself before God and others,

Pastor Bill