****I am deeply indebted to Henry Nouwen and Bishop T.D. Jakes for rocking my world and teaching me what I am about to so poorly communicate.****
Luke 24:30 As Jesus sat at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
This little verse is packed with so much. Jesus took bread, He blessed the bread, He broke the bread and then He gave it to the people. This is the same pattern Jesus must take all His people through in order to be used by greatly by Him.
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Jesus takes us. He takes us from where we were and what we were doing, and He takes us for a new use. He takes us to be used by Him and for Him (Col 1:16). We would never choose this on our own, so God initiates grace towards us and takes us in spite of ourselves. God did this for me when I was seventeen. He took me from a path of sin and rebellion and despair and gave me a second chance. I am so thankful God did this for a rebellious guy like me. And once He took me or I like to say “OVERTOOK” me, I was never the same.
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Jesus blesses us. After Christ takes us, He blesses us. As we follow Him, he blesses us with His Spirit to guide us (John 16:13), His wisdom to make good choices (I Cor 2:16), His heart to love others (Ezek 36:26), His vision to care about broken and lost people (Lk 19:10), and His ways to interact in our world as His hands and feet. (Ps 86:11) I am so thankful Jesus has blessed me far more than I will ever deserve.
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Jesus breaks us. This is where it gets hard, and so many people quit on God. After He takes you and blesses you, He must break you. (James 1:2-4) You have to die to yourself before you can truly live like Jesus and for Jesus. For this to happen He must BREAK you. And to go through the breaking process is the most painful thing you will ever endure. It will feel like you are going to die, and you will not be able to make it another day. St John of the Cross calls this the “dark night of the soul”. But if you are unwilling to go through this breaking period, you will never live up to your full potential. Remember, if God brutally breaks you, it means He has great plans for you. So don’t quit. (Gal 6:9) Don’t give up. God will not break you and abandon you. He will break you in order to use you in greater and greater ways.
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Jesus gives you to the people. Once you are broken, then the new you, the better you, the usable you, can be given out to help the world around you. God will give you out to feed the spiritually hungry and hurting, and the end result is spiritual nourishment for all. You will be bread for the world, like Jesus is the “bread of life.”
This pattern is seen all throughout Scripture.
Moses:
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He was taken from the river.
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He was blessed to live in Pharaoh’s house.
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He was broken by living as an outlaw shepherd on the backside of the desert.
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He was given to the people as leader.
David:
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He was taken and anointed king.
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He was blessed with leadership and courage to defeat Goliath.
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He was broken by an evil king whose desire was to kill him, and spent years in the wilderness as a fugitive.
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He was given to the people as king.
Jesus
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He was taken and chosen by God at His baptism.
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He was blessed by God at the transfiguration.
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He was broken by God at the cross.
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He was given to the people with the resurrection.
He is the bread of life.
Leader, pastor, teacher, Christian. - In order to be used greatly by God you must not only be willing to be taken and blessed, but also to be broken and given.
Once I heard Pastor Mark Driscoll say it this way, “In order to be used greatly by God you must first be wounded deeply by God.”
Today, allow God to be God.
Let him do what He wants with your life. Don’t fight Him. Trust Him. You are just bread. This is the best place you could be. You are in the hands of JESUS!
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