Healed vs Fixed: The Difference Between Man and Machine

Ok, so this isn't really going to be my typical article but one needed nonetheless! As my dear readers have been noticing of late, the tone of my articles are increasing in their intensity. Things in this life are increasing in their intensity and I have an obligation as a follower of Christ to inform, direct, speak truth into a world full of lies and to shine His Light in the Darkest of places. As I try to do so, and to do His bidding, I've began to notice just how much things are falling apart all around us. Both man and machine if you will. As I was driving home from work one evening, I was going over the events of the day because it was quite an emotionally charged day. I saw a vehicle on the side of the road with someone on the outside on a cell phone. The car was broken down and the individual was calling for help. Then just like that: It hit me. It was like I had been staring at it all along but just didn't "see" it. Everything breaks down. Man and machine. Everything can be broken at some point or another. And honestly, everything WILL become broken, break down, or simply in the state OF breaking down. Man and machine. This article was then born. It's funny how the Lord speaks to us and shows us what we're to do or say next. A simple exhausting day and driving home seeing a broken down vehicle on the side of the road became this article. Ironically, how many times have we ALL seen broken down vehicles on the side of the road and never thought twice about them? Me? PLENTY! But not this time because God didn't want me to look "past" what was right in front of me all along.

Light Shines Through the Cracked Pot

I began to think about Man vs Machine in a very different way because they both can "break." Interesting, isn't it? Both aren't "made" or "created" to last forever in THIS life, on this earth. Machines need to be maintained to perform at their peak. Take a car for instance. You must keep the oil changed, the tires rotated and air pressure checked. You must perform tune-ups and replace worn parts. You need to keep it filled with gas to keep it going. But inevitably, no matter how much you maintain it and follow a schedule of maintenance, it will eventually break all the way down and you will have to replace it with a new model. All the maintenance will keep it running smoother and longer, but it won't prevent it from completely breaking down. A vehicle always needs to be fixed. In fact, they are always in a state of being fixed or needing fixed. Now let's look at man. Man also needs to be maintained. We must eat properly, exercise and get our annual check-ups. We must wash our bodies, hair and clothes. We need to brush our teeth and maintain them to the best of our ability. We must also do our best to keep our minds active too. Our spirits need "gas" as does the vehicles we drive but instead of liquid "gas," we need to be spiritually filled by His Word, His Truth. But, just like the vehicle, man is also in a perpetual state of breaking down, of dying and decaying. No matter how well we take care of ourselves, no matter how healthy we are at any given moment, the moment we are born we begin to die. The difference, and it's HUGE, between when a machine breaks down and when a person breaks down or are both broken, is a machine needs FIXED but a person needs HEALED. Also a HUGE difference between when a machine breaks down for good and when a person dies, is that the machine ends its mechanical life in rubble and goes to the scrap yard and is no more. When a man dies, however, it's just his BODY that fades away. His spirit will go on to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. The most awesome thing is man has a choice of where he will go. I press this issue of importance as much as I can because God gave us each a choice. It's so important to make the right choice because we never know from day to day, or moment to moment, what our life holds!

This world is full of broken people. Ones with broken hearts, broken spirits, broken relationships, broken homes, broken minds, broken bodies. For the most part, what we find in this selfish, uncompassionate, evil world is that broken things, broken people, are rejected, despised and thrown away. This world is currently so full of hurt and pain like no other times before us. It's quite devastating to witness just how deep wounds are these days. Some are self-inflicted through choices, while others are a result of other outside influences. It's all around us. As a general rule, anything we no longer need or can use, we simply throw away and get rid of the excess weight. Damaged goods are typically always rejected, overlooked or passed by and that includes people. Sadly, let's face it, we are ALL damaged goods. Every single one of us!! I've felt shame and conviction over how I looked at some people in years gone by just because they were damaged in ways that I wasn't and were exceedingly different. Well, I was made to step back and ask for forgiveness because I was broken too. I realized it didn't matter how someone was broken, or why they were broken. What mattered was that I was broken too, just in a different way and I couldn't look at someone else's pain, someone else's hurt, and dismiss them. I felt horrible! But thanks be to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I was clearly convicted of those feelings and I look at others in a much different way now. Jesus forgave ME in all of my brokenness. He can do the same for everyone else!  Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit." 

There is something so devastating about reaching a breaking point, about being so broken, that causes us to seek the Lord more sincerely. It's happened to me more than once! I'm only human and frail to the same degree as the next one is but when I've been at my own breaking point, it has definitely caused me to seek the face of the Lord in a more sincere, desperate and pure manner. Even King David was once a broken man, and through his own brokenness, he prayed, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:10, 17) There are some things in our lives that need to be broken: pride, self-will, rebellious spirits, stubbornness, and sinful habits, for example. These things are on the rise in this world we live in today and is evident all around us! It's become a selfish, self-centered and evil world. But you see, when we feel at our most broken, at the end of the rope, God compensates! Isaiah 57:15, "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones." The Bible says that God breaks those who are proud and rebellious. Pride and rebellion are two very ugly sins! They are repressive. They are degrading. They are hateful. The mighty Pharaoh set himself against God at one point, but God broke him and freed His people from bondage and shame. Leviticus 26:13, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." You see, God punishes all those who proudly resist Him. When people resist Him and rebel willfully against Him, there will be punishment and discipline. That's what a Loving Father does! Isaiah 65:14, "My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit."

To many people, broken things are inherently despised and rejected and considered worthless. They fail to look in the mirror at themselves to see their own brokenness but God can take what has been broken, torn apart, shredded and made to appear worthless and remake it into something better, something new, and something that He can use for His glory. He does it every second of the day! People try to "fix" other people. They try to "fix" other people's problems and brokenness. This is an impossible fete for many reasons but for the obvious reason is that ONLY God can HEAL the broken. Nobody can "fix" anyone else. Remember, people can't be FIXED!!! Only machines can be fixed. People can be HEALED and it's by God and God alone that can accomplish that amazing miracle! Machines can't be "healed." How silly is that!?! Let's take it a step further and say that even when a bone is broken, it isn't "fixed." It's "healed." Everything in our bodies were made to regenerate and heal. Nothing in our bodies can be "fixed." Broken situations and broken people are the direct result of sin, either from yourself or being the victim of someone else's sin. Yet God sent his Son, who was without sin, to be broken so that we might be healed. Many of you will remember in the Bible that on the night before He died, Jesus broke the bread and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you." He went on all the way to Calvary to die so that we can live! His sacrificial death makes it possible for broken, sinful humanity to be reconciled to God and be HEALED. Without the broken body of Jesus, we could not be made whole. Isaiah 53:5, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." AMEN and PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Let's just take a moment and look at the two definitions of healed and fixed. We'll start with "fixed" first since that is so widely used and interchanged with being "broken."

Fixed- 1) to repair; mend. 2) to put in order or in good condition; adjust or arrange. 3) to become stable or permanent. 4) a repair, adjustment, or solution, usually of an immediate nature. 5) fastened securely in position

Healed- 1) to make healthy, whole, or sound; restore to health; free from ailment. 2) to bring to an end or conclusion, as conflicts between people or groups, usually with the strong implication of restoring former amity; settle; reconcile 3) to free from evil; cleanse; purify 4) (of a wound, broken bone, etc.) to become whole or sound; mend; get well 5) purge, disinfect.

Broken Vessels for God

Now as you can see when you look at the two definitions, they are polar-opposites! Takes on a whole new meaning when we look at things in black and white, doesn't it? Only when we fully, and sincerely, surrender to Christ will we be healed, restored and transformed. This type of surrender requires a brokenness on our part. Luke 9:23, "Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." This is a full surrender when we deny ourselves and take up His cross on a daily basis in order to follow Him. For those out there who are total control freaks, for a lack of a better word, and I WAS one at one point, this can be a very difficult thing to do! But, Jesus promised us to heal us, to restore us and to transform us! Some things may take longer than others, but, eventually, it will be transformed! Claim the promise that cannot be broken which is found in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." I would much rather go through my tribulations WITH Jesus Christ than to face them alone, in the dark, with our adversary the devil! Jesus overcame it ALL. It was finished on the Cross. Simple. Jesus viewed all things in the light of eternity, and so should we because we will spend eternity somewhere....heaven or hell. So our eyes and our focus should be on our eternal salvation. God calls us to Him. God draws us nearer and into His arms. He longs for us to come to Him willingly so that He CAN heal us. "Things" get fixed and are temporary. People are healed and it's eternal! Oftentimes, we are unable to hear His voice because we’re so busy with other "stuff" and other "noises" such as our hectic lives, our families, our work, our own personal problems and unhappiness. Sometimes, when it all is said and done, we really have to be broken before we are able to realize our need. And our deepest, most important need is to be reconciled to God. It's only then at that point that we can be made whole. Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth." He's waiting. He's been calling you......be still long enough to listen and to hear His voice!

The solution can never come from our own efforts, contentions or striving, but can only come only from Him. It's at the pivotal moment when we recognize our desperate need for God that we're able to take our eyes off ourselves long enough to focus them on God and Jesus Christ. Only when we can unselfishly stop thinking about ourselves and our needs, pains, hurts and desires, and start thinking about what Jesus did FOR us can we begin to HEAL. It's only when we are able to admit our need and come before our Lord and ask Jesus into our life, can God then begin to make us whole again. Everyone on the other side of Jesus Christ will remain in a broken state spiritually. Jesus is the Healer. It's when we confess that we ARE broken that God can make us into what He wants us to be. I assure each and every one of you who have been chosen to read this article, what He wants us to be is far more fulfilling, amazing and beautiful than anything we can do ourselves!!! Once we are willing to let go of our "self" and place God at the center of our lives, everything else falls into place, and quite nicely too! Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." 

So, let me say that in order to be transformed and healed, we must be broken first. We wouldn't need Jesus Christ if we weren't broken and in need of healing. That wasn't the plan though. If we yield to the process of breaking, it will be much easier on us than if God has to FORCE His breaking on us! And make no mistake, rebelling against His will surely finds you out eventually and God will force brokenness upon you! voluntarily surrendering to be broken is less painful!  Matthew 21:44, "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." You see, God will break us for His perfect plan in order to be able to re-make us into what He wants us to be. He will also draw us near to comfort us in our brokenness. There are times I was so broken and weeping in my spirit that I felt totally alone! It was the Lord that drew me close and wrapped His arms around me protecting me and comforting my weary heart! Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds." Sorrow will more often than not accompany our brokenness, but Godly sorrow is quite good for us and it's through the breaking/remaking process that God promises to give us a brand new heart. Sorrow  has a purpose and so does brokenness! People, mankind, have, throughout scriptures, been referred to as vessels that God was in the process of creating. Vessels were used to describe mankind as well as a container to contain something. Look at it this way; a vessel will be filled with something that the vessel will "contain." Until that vessel is properly broken, the contents will not be able to sufficiently or freely flow out. We are God's vessels and we, too, need to be properly broken so everything inside of us is able to flow freely out, in order for God to restore, transform and heal us.

FYI - God is always looking and waiting for broken vessels!! David is the most broken man in the entire Old Testament. Paul is the most broken man in the apostolic writings. The particular men who were stubborn and refused to be broken became nothing more than miserable shipwrecks in a raging, angry ocean in the history of the church. Their ministries sadly always ended at their tombstones. You see, as hard as this is to understand, the more broken we are, the more God can do with us. The more broken we are, and become, the more God can and will, use us in His Kingdom for His will! The most beautiful all of is that God's ways with us, and through us, have little or nothing to do with our education, finances, institutions, our blood-lines or our social and geographic location. None of that matters to Him. It's all a matter of brokenness. This is so aptly illustrated in the parable of the feeding of the 5,000 men with five loaves and two fishes. The world is perishing, right here, right now, not for the lack of more Christian TV and radio programs, nor for the shortage of money given to missions or evangelism, nor for the lack of better or bigger religious machinery. It is perishing because of the lack of broken men.

God can only work greatly through those who have waited long enough to be broken, who were willing enough to allow themselves to be broken. God can't fully operate through people, even the most dedicated, who follow their own ideas, travel down their own paths, make their own decisions and pursue the path of convenience. God is looking for people who have become so broken and nothing more than a shattered vessel so He can fill them up with everything! Let's look at a few vessels and see what we can glean from their use. Moses was clearly chosen by God even though he was a killer and an outlaw; David, chosen and also used mightily by God even though he was an adulterer and conniving liar; Peter was self-obsessed and foulmouthed but was also chosen by God; and then there's Paul, a cruel and fanatic zealot but look how God used him! These men were broken. In this day and age, some would say they were "broken beyond repair." But not so in the eyes of the Lord! As you can see, these men were not your typical models of spiritual living! Nevertheless, we shouldn't be too surprised because really, God is like that. The more broken and cracked the vessel is, the more He is apt to use you greatly. In fact, He said He didn't come to seek the stellar righteous but rather came to see those who really made a full blown disaster of their lives. Jesus also said that He didn't come to seek those who were well, but those who were ill. All of these types of individuals can be read about in His words: outcasts, underachievers, pariahs, untouchables, and rejects. Same then as it is now.

Because God traditionally sought out such individuals, the church at Corinth had their fair share of them. 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. v27) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;" Also in 2 Corinthians 4:7, " But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." Paul was extremely pleased at how God was willing to use all of the underachievers, the underdogs, to usher in and enhance His kingdom. He did it in Corinth by using the humbled of individuals, whom He likened to "jars of clay." Why clay vessels? Well clay vessels are easily cracked, broken and shattered into many pieces; a very fitting picture of our sensitive egos and human nature. At the same time, however, as those clay vessels are becoming cracked, broken and shattered, all the "stuff" is pouring out so He can fill it back up, mend the vessel and transform it into a new vessels. It is precisely those who have been broken up the most that He uses to mend others! I've said before that who better to witness to the lost and broken and hurting than His very own clay vessels who have been found, mended and healed!

There are many people right now that look at their lives and see nothing but brokenness! I was one of those "someone's" many years ago! Many people find going to sleep at night isn't so easy because of  all the sobbing and weeping and worrisome thoughts. And some nights, sleep barely comes at all. There are visible bruises, emotional scars, sore spots and mental bruising that attest to repeated falls, trials, tribulations, helplessness and pain and suffering that keep many up at night. Life has become so broken up and they have become so broken down that hopelessness is all that’s left and what they call "home" now. Life may have turned out to be totally chaotic and almost unbearable where dreams have all but vanished. Wounds are deep. Grief is intense and overwhelming. A sense of failure pervades all around. Rejection and abandonment rings louder and louder in their minds. Inner voices seem to confirm the conclusion that something that has shattered can't be mended, much less healed but rather, that it should only be discarded. But WAIT!!!

Hold on! Not just yet, my friends! There IS someone who heals broken vessels and heals their brokenness! Anyone in despair needs to go to Him before making any radical, life-changing, life-altering decisions. Jeremiah 18:3-4, "Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. v4) And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make." Oh, yes, the Lord definitely can heal any broken vessel who is willing to surrender and break enough. He does it by re-creating them and transforming them. There is absolutely no need to cast that shattered vessel aside; all that needs to be done is to take it to the Master Potter in all of it's shattered glory and He will restore it and turn it into a new vessel. Let’s look at one such case in history. Moses. Moses was despondent in the desert, demoralized and wasting away. At age 80, he held a shepherd’s rod when he could've held the scepter of Egypt. Moses perceives death approaching, along with his very last breath; he was old after all, and it would also be the demise of his dreams. Though he had been cast aside by society in its continual search for new heroes, he wasn't overlooked by the God of the down-and-out. Even though his résumé included such condemning terms as "criminal" and "outlaw," God was still highly interested in Moses. So, God sends him on a critical first assignment. Even though Moses didn't give himself much credit and was a naysayer of this assignment simply because of his age and being out of touch, God believed in him. With all kinds of reluctance, Moses took on his new challenge!

His achievements are incredibly awesome and profoundly unique. None of them can be replicated. Four events show his unique role in history:

• He was God’s human instrument to change the mind-set of the mighty Egyptian Pharaoh.
• He was God’s human instrument to turn a group of slaves into a nation.
• He spoke face to face with Yahweh and received from Him the Ten Commandments.
• He was God’s chosen penman to record the foundational books of the Bible—the Pentateuch.

Not too bad for someone who had spent the best years of his life on the hills of Midian tending sheep. God uses all kinds of people from all backgrounds. But brokenness is the common denominator in being used the greatest! When someone has experienced defeat and dejection, ridicule and rejection, solitude and abandonment, brokenness and bareness, that person becomes more sensitive to the voice of God. They can also relate to others in such a way that would have been otherwise impossible had they not gone into such depths of anxiety and despair. So you see, the more brokenness one becomes and experiences, the more useful they can become in the hands of the Lord. Jesus clearly teaches that the key to faith is humility, brokenness, yieldedness. Once we are humbled, we'll yield to being broken! So remember, Christ doesn't need whole, solid vessels; instead, He needs broken, chipped, cracked and shattered vessels. This is because only broken vessels can be channels of living water. Whole vessels can only be cisterns of dead, dank, muddy water. The more cracks and chips a broken vessel has, the more light will be able to shine through! We are His Light on this earth to shine in the world of darkness! There are many people in this world, walking around in such a broken state of despair, who don't feel they can be of any use to God because of their past transgressions, sins or history. This might simply be an excuse on their part not to serve the Lord, but it might also actually be that they genuinely feel that they are unusable, unworthy and unclean. One thing is for certain; if they have repented, or if they WILL repent, they can be definitely used again, just like the marred pottery in Jeremiah 18:4.

We tend to forget that God’s forgiveness is complete and if our confession and repentance was genuine, God has forgiven it and expects us to forgive ourselves. We can't continue to not forgive ourselves if God has already forgiven us because it would make it also nearly impossible to forgive others. This doesn’t mean that there won't be scars, scrapes and bruising, because all of those are signs of healing. If you are honest like me, you can’t claim to have lived a faultless life. None of us have lived a faultless life, nor could we ever achieve that fete! If you don't consider yourself a broken vessel, yet you consider yourself saved by Grace, you might need to step back a little and take a look at your scars. Take a look at the cracks in your pot. We're all broken and there's nothing to be ashamed about! Jesus Christ is the Master Healer so draw nearer to Him and surrender. Those of you that do consider yourself a "broken vessel" but like the piece of pottery in Jeremiah 18:4, you can be "made over" and be made new to be used of God. Being broken isn't the worst thing there is in life! If you really look at it through the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's actually one of the best things to be! Many times, it takes us being weak, broken and where we have run out of our own steam, strength and natural efforts, to clearly recognize that we NEED God as our supply. Just remember it doesn't matter from where you came from, what sins you committed, or how unworthy you feel. God CAN and WILL use you!!! Repent, Receive, Transform and Renew!

Machines needs fixed. People need HEALED!

Don't be afraid to break because it's only then that we can truly shine!



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