In Touch Daily Devotion

In Touch Daily Devotional by Dr. Charles Stanley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 4, 2008 -- Brokenness: The Plan -- 1 Thessalonians 5:21-23 Humans are born "bent away" from the Lord. Our natural inclination is to please and serve self, which is the opposite of a Godhonoring lifestyle. When we become believers, our Father begins to bend our will and ways back towards Him. But we must cooperate with Him and yield to the process; otherwise, we are of little use to the kingdom. The Lord wants to eradicate every thought pattern and activity promoting dependency on anything other than Him. This means that relying on oneself to attain security, salvation, or physical and emotional comfort are outside His will. Actions that advance a person at the expense of others are also ungodly. In areas where we resist bending toward the Lord, He may break us by allowing pain into our life. As a result, we are driven to Him in surrender. To break a person may sound harsh, but God does this work in love. He sees beyond the hurt to the outcome--we will be more mature and faithful servants for having walked through trial. And our loving Father takes each hard step with us, offering guidance and comfort. Seeing the benefits He has brought about through my hardships, I can honestly thank Him for every period of brokenness I've experienced (Romans 8:28). The truth is that we all have areas of selfishness that need to be bent or broken by God's hand. When we honestly look inward to discover wrong habits and thought patterns, our heavenly Father will bring them to mind. Then, we must surrender to His work so we can become wise and useful servants.