Luke 4:18
Years ago there was a TV series called “What Not to Wear.” The gist of it was that some well-meaning coworker, friend, or family member would nominate a person (mostly women) to be on the show, and the nominee would get a makeover. It was a head-to-toe makeover if I remember correctly – new hair style, new makeup, new wardrobe. The catch was the nominee had to surrender their old wardrobe in favor of the new wardrobe.
Recently, this show was brought to my remembrance as we have been cleaning out some closets here at home. We’ve been here 20 years now (and have changed sizes at least as many times !), so to say we have accumulated some “extra stuff” is an understatement.
As I was folding items for donation, I came across a t-shirt that sucker-punched me deep in my soul:
I know the painful story behind this t-shirt. I know why it’s in my home. It was a cry for help at a time when help was desperately needed. Thankfully, we cried out to Jesus in our brokenness, and He has been faithful to save, heal, and deliver us. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18 NIV).
But, as I looked at the t-shirt a second time, I realized the shirt can also convey this sentiment: “I’M BROKEN AND I’M OK WITH IT.”
Oh, Jesus! Teach us, today!
Please know I understand brokenness, and I empathize with it. Until I met Jesus, I was as broken as they come. (In my upcoming book, I will share my full testimony.) So, I get what it is to feel like life has had the upper hand. It is undoubtedly discouraging and defeating.
Then sometimes in our discouragement and defeat, we can get to the point where we just lay down, let life beat us to a pulp, and we simply stay there. It is there we make friends with the brokenness; we remain in fellowship with the brokenness. We allow brokenness to define us; we adopt brokenness as an identity. Sometimes this happens, and we don’t even know it has. The enemy’s subtleties become subtle ties that bind us up.
The concern becomes this. We end up in what I call “spiritual Stockholm syndrome.” What is that? Well, let’s start with the definition of Stockholm syndrome. According to Britannica.com, Stockholm syndrome is a “psychological response wherein a captive begins to identify closely with his or her captors, as well as with their agenda and demands.“
We can easily adapt that same definition to spiritual Stockholm syndrome. In our minds, we can accept brokenness to such a degree that we become a captive of it. In doing so, we both agree with our captor (the enemy) and his agenda and demands, and we assume an identity that God never designed or intended for us. It’s like wearing that t-shirt that proclaims “I’M BROKEN AND I’M OKAY WITH IT.”
We don’t have to wear that or any other t-shirt the enemy tries to put on us. We don’t have to accept brokenness, and we definitely don’t have to be okay with it. We have an amazing Lord and Savior in Jesus who will meet us right where we are in any moment, and He will heal our hearts and minds and set us free from our captivity (Luke 4:18).
He will transform us from the inside out because He loves us too much to leave us where He finds us. Like that show “What Not To Wear,” He will help us surrender the old stuff that isn’t for us anymore. He will give us a complete makeover from head to toe. He will give us a new identity and a new wardrobe. He will clothe us, heal us, deliver us. This is true freedom, and it’s glorious.
He came to set the captives free.
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