What Do You Think? Wednesday
The sensation was strong and not easy to take, the constant aching that bent me to my knees. I prayed. I asked God what was with this breaking, this separation from life and death, good from evil, past desires from present ones, the old from the new. I sat and heard that the breaking comes so the building can be firm, built on the solid Rock. There is no stability on shaky ground.

“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”—Matthew 7:25-27

So the conflict comes to air the truth; the sickness is used to strengthen our faith view; the laying down of life to give us one that God can greatly use, if we let Him. We have to decide to break from the shame, the doubt, the fear, the meat in the form of tears, worry, unforgiveness, bitterness, revenge, backbiting, envy, trash talking, name calling or whatever your present struggle or pet sin is. These will break us if we don’t break from them. Breaking from them is yet another special obligation we have as Christians. We have an obligation to recognize the power of our breaks; they give God the opportunity to build us again, afresh, anew, to bless us so we can bless, too.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
. . . a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; . . .”— Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3

What do you think are other things that Christians have a special obligation to break? What things have you broken or need to break in your life so you can be built up?