And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31‭-‬32 ESV

Below what I am writing now is something I wrote it in 2015–during one of the most difficult journeys of my life. God recently brought it back to mind as I was meditating the other day on what it means to be broken. Many Christians (me too!) tend to think that being broken negates Christ’s work. We don’t want to say we’re broken for fear others may realize we are. We put on our “I’m a good person with no issues” mask while inside we struggle. We assume that to show our need for a Savior somehow negates Christ’s saving work. But that’s a lie. It’s a lie from the pit of Hell aimed at keeping us from experiencing the true freedom Christ provided on the cross.

Our brokenness doesn’t negate salvation; it magnifies it! Who more than the broken one needs the Healer? Who more than the sick needs the Great Physician? Why do you think Jesus spent so much time with the sinners of the world? They knew and He knew they needed Him. Jesus didn’t call “perfect” people to be His disciples. He called those who knew they were sinners and wanted to change. The Sadducees and the Pharisees, the ones who thought they were the most righteous and most deserving of God’s favor, were in reality the most unrighteous and undeserving. Not because they didn’t need a Savior (for none are righteous, no not one) but because they didn’t want a Savior.

We must remember Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous. He didn’t come to save the ones who looked good in front of everyone, who always had the perfect Facebook profile, who never doubted, who never got scared, and who never made mistakes. He came to save sinners. Sinners like me. Sinners like you. Jesus came to save everyone who is willing to admit that they are not righteous, not perfect, and not holy. Jesus came to save those who realize being a Christian doesn’t mean you’re fixed. It just means you’ve accepted Jesus as the Fixer of your brokenness.

I believe the only truly broken people in this world are those who won’t admit they’re broken, for we’re all broken. We all struggle. We all need Jesus. But until we admit we are sick and go to the Great Physician, we will never get well.

Yesterday a piano tuner came to my house to tune my piano. I knew it wasn’t in tune, but I did not realize how bad it was until he fixed it. And the same goes for our walk with Jesus. If we do not realize or admit we are out of tune with His desires for us, and if we do not call on the Great Tuner, we will never realize the beautiful music He can play through us. We will never experience the beauty and joy of being “in tune.”

I believe it was my mentor who once shared with me that sometimes we do not realize how sick we are until we experience what healthy feels like. So I encourage you today to join me in two things. First of all, join me in admitting our brokenness. Let each of us confess before our Lord that we are not perfect, we never will be, and that we struggle. Let each of us realize that it is okay to be broken. And then let us seek our Savior. Let us go to the Great Physician. Let us reach out and accept the help of the One who reached down to pick us up before we ever realized we had fallen.

Admitting we are broken is not easy. It takes humility and trust. But from one broken believer to another, I encourage you to do it. For once you do, you will see that admitting you are broken is the very thing that makes you unbroken.

Below is the writing I mentioned at the beginning of this post. May God use it to show you it can be healthy to be broken and it is healthy to need healing.

A few months ago I began a journey. It was a journey to “health.” I wasn’t exactly sure what healthy looked like, but in my mind I envisioned a day I’d get up and realize I was healthy. I’d feel it; someone would declare it; life would move on. And yes, I know, that sounds silly–even typing it now sounds silly–but that was my mindset–horribly wrong, but my mindset just the same. 🙂

Yet this past weekend two questions came to mind: “Am I healthy?” and “What is healthy?” It was in answering these questions, I realized my overall mindset about the whole process has actually changed. First of all, I’ve realized no one determines my “health” except God. He is the only one who truly knows my heart. To wait for someone else to declare me healthy is to put that person in God’s place. Not only is this sin, but it is also unfair to the one I put in that elevated place. I am to do life with people, not for people. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, so the life I now live in the flesh I must live by faith in Him–in Him alone. Second, I will never be completely healthy on this earth. I am broken. We are all broken. This is why we need Jesus. Our full restoration will not come until Jesus returns to usher us into eternity. Until that time, I am to daily surrender my broken self to Him. Which brings me to my final point: healthy isn’t even a destination. Healthy is a moment by moment surrendering of my unhealthy self to the wholeness that comes through knowing Christ, through intimacy with God, through prayer, through knowing His Word, and through trusting every aspect of my life to the One who gave me life and who gave His life for me.

God loves me–all of me–even the broken pieces. God loves you—all of you—even the broken pieces. And as you and I present our broken selves to Him, He takes each of us in our brokenness, loves us, and uses us, “that the excellence of the power may be of God” and not of us. (2 Cor. 4:7)