What does it mean to be broken?

What does it mean to be broken and living in a broken world? It means we are no longer consciously, deliberately, or personally connected to the Source of life, love, and all things and, therefore, are no longer fully functional. It is like still having eyes or ears that no longer work as designed. 

It also means the rest of creation itself is "in bondage" (broken). 

We no longer function at our maximum capacity - nor does the rest of creation. We are like a highly efficient and beautifully designed catamaran with no wind or sea... or a powerful and precisely engineered flashlight with no batteries... or a gloriously decorated Christmas tree sitting unplugged in the dark. Each of these has great intrinsic value with the capacity to do far more, but their potential can never be realized without being coupled with the energy (love) they are designed to operate by.

When we do not operate according to our true design, we may still function, but at a very limited level, if at all. To use an overused but familiar word, we are dysfunctional - i.e. We are broken. 

You may put a catamaran up on stands, hook things up - not the sails - even lavishly decorate it, and live inside it, but you will never experience the full benefit of what it is designed to do, i.e., sail the world experiencing great adventure and beauty.

Without God, we can still function at some level, but nowhere near the capacity we were designed to. And no matter how well we fix up the outside or inside of our catamaran to make it more attractive and comfortable - even luxurious - we will always have a sense that there is far more to be engaged in than what we are experiencing.

As Augustine said, "You (God) have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you."

For a discussion on how we are fully loved yet fully broken click here. 

For a discussion on how to be freed from our brokenness click here

For a discussion on how it's impossible to live for God in our own strength click here. 

For a discussion on how we are free yet bound click here