Brokenness re-visited

The grammar errors in my last post and jumbling of two separate columns in the quote portion reflected my last month quite well. I am glad to get back into communication mode and am willing to try again to be more understandable. Here's that quote again:

Continuum of "Togetherness" (Self- Reliance)

Human Experience -
The normative human experience is success and happiness. Hurt, pain, loss are aberrations which need to be accounted for.

Continuum of "Brokenness" (Reliance on Christ Alone)

Human Experience - Brokenness and tragedy are normative to human existence; suffering, pain, unexpected trauma, and death are the basic givens of life as we know it. Joy, love, justice and peace are aberrations which need to be accounted for. (Note Job 5: 6,7 and 19:7 - Those who are engaged in a battlepoint experience may more easily grasp this truth.)

GOD (Self-Reliance) -
God is the keeper of the "joy gate". He guarantees a certain measure of happiness and success for the faithful. He wants us to be happy and provides the righteous with gifts to keep their lives happy. He brings judgment on the unrighteous. Dark and tragic circumstances represent the absence of God. God shuns sin and chaos.

GOD (Brokenness) -
God enters into the brokenness of life to be "with us" in our suffering and pain. God wants to lead us through brokenness into His way of healing and newness of life (Christ-generated togetherness). Dark and tragic circumstances signal the presence of God with the wounded and powerless.

The Process (Self-Reliance) -
Through a good heritage, education, behavior modification, methodology, goal-oriented striving and religious activity, one develops a culturally acceptable, even admirable, character and lifestyle.

The Process (Brokenness) -
Through failure, pain, disappointment and loss that strip one of the illusions of natural and cultural acceptability, one turns to Christ and experiences His gracious love and acceptance. This undeserved favor teaches and develops a strong faith, an inherent humility and godly lifestyle.

Ministry (Self-Reliance)-
Tragic moments within the continuum of success and togetherness need to be fought and wrestled back into normalcy. Emphasize the positive (formulas, activities and disciplines are instruments of recovery.) Get people back into joy as soon as possible.

Ministry (Brokenness) -
Be compassionate even as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. Be with the wounded and broken in their suffering as a sign of the presence of God. Emphasize the reality of evil and the accompanying reality of God's presence. Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Witness (Self-Reliance) -
A demonstration of the benefits of righteous living: health, wealth, success and having it together. Shiny people are God's best advertisement. Problems represent a lack of faith and unfaithfulness and are a betrayal of God's purposes.

Witness (Brokenness) -
A demonstration of the power of the life of God to bring healing and newness in the face of sin and death. Broken people who experience God's presence are salt and light. Problems represent the context where God accomplishes His redemptive purposes.

Bless you for reading through this again. May God use it in your life.