Broken Lives

Imagine my surprise last night while engaging in my most favorite of hobbies- watching Lost- that a central theme of the whole series was spoken aloud AND it ties directly into the them of this past week's message at the Gate: Brokenness.

When asked why Jack came back to the island, he told Hurley, "I came back here because I was broken, and I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me." For five plus seasons, we've been treated to the stories of people who were Lost-in other words, broken- long before they landed on the mystical island. Jack spoke the true theme of the show, that pursuit of healing for brokenness.

He also spoke the theme of our own lives in that moment. We search for healing for our brokenness. We can find it in many good places, like friends, family, true love, faith, and of course, a relationship with God. We also find 'healing' in places that ultimately leave us more broken- drugs, alcohol, casual sex, deception, etc.

We often try to go back to places, people or things that healed us in the past, or at least made us feel good at the time. We get there only to find that it doesn't work anymore. Or at least, not like we expected it to. Lately I myself have tried going back to things that stoked my passion and fire in the past, only to find them being not much more than a spark, or really doing nothing at all. The issue for me, Jack and everyone else is that when we break, we need a new kind of healing. The old things that worked were themselves broken, so it makes sense that our new pursuit must be for a new healing.

Well, that is not right either. See, the old things themselves were merely tools that helped us to see and be healed of our emotional and spiritual brokenness. What was broken was our connection to Christ. The fracture may have been small or huge, but now, we stand spread apart from Him. And we get frustrated or angry at that distance, much like Jack did. And much like Jacob, God stands by and asks us to spend some time looking out at the ocean, remembering what we are all about and why we are here.

Healing for our brokenness comes only from Christ. But it only comes when we are ready to accept Him and His ways.