I’m Broken…And Unashamed

Depression.

It’s something we’ve all experienced. We’re weak. Yet we do everything in our feeble strength to convince others we’re strong. People ask us how we’re doing and we say we’re good. Even when we’re not.

Why?

We’re broken. There’s no changing it. From the moment Adam and Eve first sinned, humanity has been broken. On this side of heaven we’ll always be broken.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably felt depressed. Chances are you know how it feels to hate yourself. You’re stressed and anxious, maybe even right now. Some of you may have wanted to hurt yourself before. Maybe you have scars that haven’t faded yet.

Well, I do too.

Isolation Generation

Depression and anxiety are rampant in our society. It’s killing us off one by one. Satan is using our insecurities to end us before we can make a difference for Christ. It’s become an epidemic, and the more I talk with people the more I realize I’m not alone in my depression.

But how, and why, is depression so prevalent in our culture? Why is there a generation of people who know what it’s like to hate themselves more than anything else?

WHY?

It’s because we don’t want to be broken.

We live in a culture that prides itself on ability and determination. A culture where people are supposed to stand in the face of trials and tribulations, without a flinch, without a tear or shred of emotion. To charge straight ahead and keep going no matter what gets in your way. A stiff necked, stiff lipped, strong culture.

A culture that is wrong.

This is not what God intended for humanity. This is not what we’re supposed to be.

God has given us a blessed body of believers to come to and share with. But we’ve turned it into a gathering of pretenders, who plaster on a smile on Sunday and cry in a corner on Monday.

He gave us a Church, we made a stage.

He gave us peace, united us all under Christ. We became afraid and tore ourselves apart.

But that’s not what he wanted.

Broken…Together

1 Corinthians 12:21-23 says, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor…”

Do you know what that means? It means that the weak, the hurting, the scarred and helpless parts of the body of Christ, are the ones he honors most. The ones he regards most. It means the broken people, God honors. It means the weak people, God strengthens. It means the people who are hurting, God loves.

Look around you, at the people in your life—even the Christian people in your life. They’re hurting. We live in a time where brokenness both abounds and is condemned at the same time. It makes no sense.

We live in a time where we’re more scared about others seeing our pain than pain itself. We focus more on hiding our brokenness, than helping others. It’s insane! We’re a body of believers. Is your hand afraid of your foot? No? Then why are you afraid of being broken with another member of Christ’s body, who most likely is just as broken as you?

God intended us to be together. To suffer together. To rejoice together.

To be broken, together.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 12:26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

We’re all hurting, we’re all broken. We’re all hiding.

But I say, no more.

No more hiding, no more lying, no more saying we’re all okay.

Let’s be honest, we’re all in pain. I’m tired of suffering alone, and I know you are too.

It’s time to come out of hiding. It’s time to stop pretending.

It’s time to be honest with yourself and say…

I’m broken.

But let’s be broken together. Let’s stop pretending the person who sits next to us on Sunday morning doesn’t understand what we’re going through. Because they do. Let’s stop saying tomorrow, and start living today. Let’s stop hiding, and start shouting. Start proclaiming our brokenness, glorying in our weakness, and showing off our scars.

Because brokenness is simply where Christ can be whole.

Weakness is simply where he can be strong.

And our scars are stories of hell’s almost and God’s absolute.

So be broken, be weak, be scarred. But don’t go through it alone. You may be broken, but there is someone in your life who was just as broken and who can help you through it and point you to the one who can help anyone. God gave us people for a reason, so let’s stop being scared of the gift, and start using that gift.

Start talking. Keep living. Quit hiding.

I don’t have all the answers. To be honest, I’m still struggling through my depression. But I know that hiding doesn’t help. Pretending it’s not there doesn’t help. The best thing to do is to talk about it and deal with it instead of letting it grow and fester.

Let depression end here and now, with us. Let’s be the generation to loudly proclaim Christ’s strength in our brokenness. And keep on living. Not by our own strength, and not hiding. But in God’s strength, and in each other’s company.

Hear the echoes of the brokenness all around you, don’t be afraid.

Rise. Live. Speak.

Echo the cry of those around you as we all say…

I am broken, and unashamed.