I have come to a greater appreciation of children’s books. Max Lucado wrote You are Special. The story follows small wooden people called Wemmicks. Punchinello, the main character, spends his time trying to earn stars for his achievements but receives grey dots for his failures. Through a course of events, he meets his creator named Eli. The turning point happens when Punchinello realizes that his worth comes from Eli rather than the stars or grey dots.
How often do we find ourselves like Punchinello pursuing the applause of others? Ultimately, we cannot find enough outside validation or success for our contentment. We can live in the anxiety of our wins and losses believing the lie that they give us our identity. The road to freedom runs through brokenness, the realization that our value does not result from our performance.
Listen to what Dan Allender says in Leading with a Limp:
A broken leader is no longer driven by the need to impress people or to secure their approval. A broken leader has already known shame, so there is little fear of being found out or further exposed as a failure. This is not to say she doesn’t care what others think or is so self-sufficient that praise and delight are beneath her…
….When a broken’s leader’s labor is blessed, it is a significant reminder that success is neither earned by hard work nor a reward for faithfulness. Instead, success is a token of grace to be enjoyed in the moment before the other shoe drops. (Leading with a Limp, pg. 73)
Punchinello had to come to brokenness to see Eli, and we walk the same path to Jesus. Healthy brokenness invites us to encounter the Gospel — the bad news that we cannot measure up, the Good News that through Jesus we find ultimate significance in our identity in Him. Consider the security of having a healthy view of approval, failure, and success and most of all living out of your identity in Jesus. That’s grace.
What would change in your life today if you accepted your brokenness and found your identity in Jesus? What would it look to accept success and failure as grace?
Photo by Nathan Dumlao