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Monday, May 07, 2012

Being Broken To Be Made Whole


I remember seeing something on television when I was a child which illustrates how we often try to manage our own lives. Did you ever see “The Ed Sullivan Show”?  Even if you aren’t old enough to remember watching Ed Sullivan, you probably have seen this act in reruns. There was a man who took plates and long rods, measuring around ten feet in length. He would put a plate on the end of a rod and spin the plate with his hand. When he got the plate spinning, he would stand the rod straight up with the plate still spinning on top, high up in the air. He would then gently shake the rod in such a way as to keep the plate spinning on top.

He would then take another rod and plate and do exactly the same thing. Then he would take another. Then another and another. Eventually the man would have about a dozen rods with plates spinning on top all going at the same time. He would frantically run back and forth across the stage, shaking the rods and keeping the plates going. He could keep all of them going at the same time. It was amazing to watch.

That man’s act reminds me of a Christian who is enslaved to living in the wilderness of empty religion. Religion demands that we keep all our plates in the air. The plates represent the things of value from our own religious perspective which we believe that we must sustain. So the religious legalist spends his whole life running back and forth, “shaking his sticks” in an effort to manage his life. Surely none would argue that this is the life Christ died to give us! What a waste His death would have been.

Meanwhile, our loving Heavenly Father sees us wearing ourselves out with this performance we call “the Christian life.” Moved by compassion He determines to deliver us from the frenzied routine we have mistakenly thought of as “Christian living.” So he walks across the stage of life and starts knocking our plates off. One by one He causes them to fall, shattering at our feet.

It’s interesting to see how the body of Christ reacts to this plate breaking movement of God. I’ll bet you never read about that movement of God in Christian magazines. How would you like “The Breaking Revival” to come to your church? People’s lives would all start falling apart so that Christ could become their sufficiency. Different parts of the body of Christ respond to God’s breaking process in different ways. The Baptists conclude that they need to rededicate themselves to try harder to keep their plates in the air the next time. The Pentecostals begin to rebuke the demon of plate breaking. The charismatics lay hands on the plate and say, “In Jesus’ name, be healed!” The Presbyterians conclude that the plate must have been predestined to break from the foundation of the world. The Methodists form a committee for a year long study on the causes of plate breaking and to determine whether it was a sin for the plate to break or simply the inherent predisposition present in the plate since the day of its creation. The Salvation Army responds, “When you think about it, aren’t we all really broken plates?”  It isn’t my goal to offend Christians of every denomination. I hope you have a sense of humor and can see that what I want to point out is that while different parts of the body of Christ respond to our problems in different ways, we all have the same tendency. We fail to see that God may be the One who is causing our problems to come so that He can bring us to the place where we give up on our self-sufficiency and begin to totally trust in Him alone.

God wants to bring each of His children to brokenness, a condition which exists when we have given up all confidence in our own ability to manage life. Before we can cross over into Grace Land, we must come to the end of our self-sufficiency and recognize that we will never accomplish victory by our own strength. To try is nothing more than a religious performance and God loves us enough to spoil our performance if necessary.

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:03 PM

    Hey Steve,
    That video makes me think of when I was a legalist. Busy trying to keep my Christian life going..... funny....You know like trying to keep 10 bottle caps under water.
    Tommy

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  2. I love this illustration. Thanks for all you do. Continuing to pray for you.

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  3. Anonymous10:12 PM

    You should write a book on this Steve. Call it, God the Plate-Smasher. I'm serious!

    The really strange thing is that many of those who are spinning the plates KNOW they are spinning plates. I can recall times when we were leading a church and the stress would sometimes just pile up so much that we would make jiggling motions with our hands as though we were shaking rods. We were smart enough to know what was going on but not smart enough to do anything about it. It took a few broken plates before we realized it didn't have to be this way.

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  4. This is my favourite part of the great book
    "Graceland" ...i prefer that title to the republished verison as Grace Amazing.

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  5. hmmm.... interesting!! i'll remember to let the plates fall wherever they wish!

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  6. I the last paragraphs you state. :
    We fail to see that God may be the One who is causing our problems to come and
    God wants to bring each of His children to brokenness,

    I feel These remarks are what keep people in bondage. Why would I run to and trust a father that is breaking me down and causing these terrible things in my life to happen. Why would I want relationship with one who DOES "wants me broken" The world has done a good job of that already. This mindset, I don't believe, that give the impression of a safe and loving father that reaches out to us in Love at all times in the name of Jesus. I do love the plate juggling. It reminds me of my life in the law. Thank you Lord for Your Grace . You make me whole.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Loving' Life do you recall what happened in the life of Job? How God not Satan was in control over the limits of Job's existence? And what Satan could and could not touch? In not charging God with wrongdoing Job was right! "shall we accept only good from God and not bad adversity?"

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  9. I agree with Lovin' Life. Praying to be broken so that you can be healed so that you can be broken again is just plain wrong. When we were saved God imputed Christ's righteousness to us. That is a cause for rejoicing. In fact, we are commanded to rejoice! Praying to be broken leads to a vicious cycle. Instead, we should pray that God would restore the joy of our salvation. It is God's will that we should rejoice always, pray continually, and be thankful in all circumstances - not that we should live in a spirit of brokenness.

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  10. A clarification of my comments above: I recently bought "Grace Walk" by Dr. Steve McVey. I was excited to get a book about grace, which has had an important part in my Christian walk. Grace seems to be neglected by many Christian authors, who urge us to "try harder" and "strive more." Before starting to read the book, I checked out Dr McVey's blog. I was so disappointed to read the above posting. I just don't understand Dr. McVey's emphasis on the necessity for believers to be "broken." St. Paul writes much more about Christian rejoicing than about Christian brokenness. Now I have no desire to read Dr. McVey's book. Am I mistaken in my understanding of Dr. McVey's beliefs?

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  11. God is not there to break our will to persevere but to make us pliable oc.

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  12. In the course of making a vessel from clay sometimes the potter has to rework like slap the clay again on the wheel until it feels right in His hand! Count it all joy when you fall into various trials Paul said so that the end might be that you are perfect and entire and wanting nothing! Even Hebrews twelve says God disciplines His Children and scourges every son He accepts! Stay pliable! Great Blog!

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  13. Oldcodger,
    If I may, I would like to make my two-cent contribution to your comment about brokenness. (I am just discovering this blog today and I fully agree with the author's perspective on the subject). Let us consider 2 Cor. 4: 6-7. I think brokenness, sometimes coming through trials and hardship, is God's choice way of causing the glorious light of His Spirit resident in us to "fully" shine in our world or environment. It seems the aroma of Christ in us is at times somewhat "locked-up" (for lack of a better word) in Believers or earthen vessels. By breaking our alabaster, so others get to better and more fully savor its contents, and for at least the following two reasons, I think the text suggests:
    1. God is "commanding" the trapped light, through brokenness, to shine in a way that humbles us but glorifies Him-contrasting our feebleness to His Omnipotence...(v.6)

    2. So that none (not even us) will confuse the source of the power of our victorious living, the fragility (through brokenness) of our earthen vessels and human ability would be obvious to all as His power and grace still blesses our life-in spite of our troubles (v.7b) (2 Cor. 12:9)

    I have read Dr McVey's books on GraceWalk and Grace Rules and I am indescribably blessed. I want to continue learning more about radical grace and I stand corrected on my perspective expressed above. I wish he would recommend a third book for me. Thanks for this blog.

    Arllen from Cameroon

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  14. A legalistic church I used to go to actually used this plate spinning scenario as an illustration of what a Christians life should be like.

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  15. I believe the Bible speaks to our being broken not brokenness like a horse has a bit to direct so God wants our broken will and brokenness would be grief to have a lot of with nothing redeeming.

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