Brokenness Aside

Today at church we sang the song "Brokenness Aside" by All Sons and Daughters.  I've heard and sung this song a lot of times and I really like it, but today God whacked me over my head with it.  I was standing there singing and all of the sudden I just started crying.  The first half of the chorus says "Cause I am a sinner, If it's not one thing it's another, Caught up in words, Tangled in lies," and it just hit me that that's me.  I'm a sinner, flat out, and right now it just really seems like if it's not one thing, then it's another.  If it's not me struggling with getting caught up in the gossip and drama at work then it's me questioning the Lord's goodness in my life, or if it's not that, then it's me letting my anger take control, or if it's not that it's one of a million other things because trust me, I could keep going.  And as I stood there crying and frustrated by my sin, I was reminded of the verse in Romans 7 where Paul talks about how he doesn't do the good he wants to do but does the very evil that he doesn't want.  Y'all, there's a very real war going on inside of Christians.  I strive daily to follow God's commands and teachings, not because that's what I have to do to stay in His good graces but because I love Him and I want to honor Him and glorify Him.  But even in the midst of my striving to be like Christ, I get caught up in the world and my sinful nature.  (Side note: As I am typing this I realize I burned what I was cooking because I forgot to set a timer and my anger and frustration flares up and I'm reminded just how far I am from being like Christ because I got so angry over such a little thing.)  

The story doesn't stop there though... the second half of the chorus says, "You are the Savior, And you take brokenness aside, And make it beautiful, Beautiful."  Y'all, we have a savior and boy is He good.  We're walking through the book of Hebrews at church right now and one of the things we talked about today was in Hebrews 2:3, that we will not escape our just punishment if we neglect "so great a salvation".  One of the points that Bill brought up was that the magnitude of the salvation is directly related to the magnitude of the danger.  Because of our sin we stand condemned before the Lord, but those who believe in Jesus are not condemned (John 3:18).  Jesus was willing to become man in order to live a perfect life and die the death that we deserve in order that we can live in a right relationship with God.  My life verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17 which states, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  I may still struggle daily against my sin nature, but because I am in Christ, I am a new creature.  I don't have to live in my sin because I have a Savior who loves me dearly.  In spite of my sin and brokenness, God makes me a new creature and it's beautiful.