We are broken people living in a broken world.  Our institutions are broken.  Our government is broken.  Our families are broken.  Our lives are broken.  WE are broken.

Rarely does a day go by I don’t have a conversation with someone who is hurting… deeply.  I’ve come to the conclusion that every person deals with brokenness and is broken… including me and my family.  Consider…

Physical.  High blood pressure, diabetes, loss of hearing and eyesight, wrinkles, pain, cancer, congenital maladies, sickness, loss of energy, dementia, Alzheimer’s, death.

Psychological.  Anger, bitterness, jealousy, hurt feelings, pride, frustration, lost dreams.

Family.  Dysfunction, divorce, children’s rebellion, distrust, disagreements, fracture.

These are but a few reasons we’re told this world is not the Christian’s home!  We are told not to live for this world… but the next… where everything will be restored!  For Christians alone is there hope IN a broken world.  Above all people Christians can have joy in the midst of a world full of hurt and pain…

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

2 Corinthians 5:1 We know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 6  So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.

Romans 8:18 The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  20 Because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  24 In this hope we were saved.

Philippians 1:21 To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23  I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.