Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
– from “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen
For how long have we thought that the secret to a useful life was a perfect offering? We would get ourselves together, offer ourselves to God and make an impact for Christ. These were the kinds of people who were always held up as examples—you know, the ones with all their bells ringing.
How we disqualify ourselves for any kind of effectiveness in someone else’s life because we are not perfect yet. “When I get it together, then God can use me.” How we excuse ourselves from service because of our own brokenness.
How we falsely elevate those around us who apparently do have it together. Not good for them, and certainly not good for us. But we do it anyway. We like to believe that someone, somewhere is getting it right, so that someday soon, we might too.
But what if everyone’s broken? What if there’s a crack in everything? And even more important, what if that is the whole point?
“But we have this treasure (the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ) in jars of clay (ordinary cracked? clay pots) to show (make it obvious) that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Yes, the cracks let the light in, as Leonard Cohen suggests, but they also let the light out so that the real source of the power can be seen.
So you see if we try to be perfect, or simply anything more than what we are, we work against the purposes of God.
(And I don’t think you want to do that.)
John Fischer The Catch 
Your comment about “a crack in everything” reminded me of David Wilcox’s song: “Break in the Cup”
I try so hard to please you
To be the love that fills you up
I try to pour on sweet affection,
But I think you got a broken cup.
Because you can’t believe I love you
I try to tell you that there is no doubt,
But as soon as I fill you with all I’ve got
That little break will let it run right out.
I cannot make you happy.
I’m learning love and money never do
But I can pour myself out ’til I’m empty
Trying to be just who you’d want me to.
But I cannot make you happy
Even though our love is true
For there’s a break in the cup that holds love
Inside of you.
Now I begin to understand you
As you explain this fear you feel.
It’s when you see me fall into that sorrow
it makes you doubt the love is real.
‘Cause the lonely wind still blows through me
I turn away so can’t see
But now how could I still be so empty
With all the love that you pour on me.
I guess you cannot make me happy
That’s a money back guarantee.
But you can pour yourself out ’til you’re empty
Trying to be just who I’d want you to be.
You cannot make me happy
It’s just the law of gravity
And that break in the cup that holds love,
Inside of me.
We cannot trade empty for empty
We must go to the waterfall
For there’s a break in the cup that holds love,
A break in the cup that holds love,
A break in the cup that holds love,
Inside us all. Inside us all.
Thanks for the great reminder, John. I’m a cracked pot and glad of it!
Great post, John, and thanks for the Wilcox song, David.
I have a hard time with the idea of being broken because I’m a perfectionist and an artist, and I always try to do my best and want to do a good job. I recently re-glazed the windows on my mom’s house, which means taking out the glass, scraping off the old putty and replacing it with new putty. It is very meticulous work. I talked with several of my contractor friends about it, and you’d be surprised at the suggestions they made for how I could cut corners. All they cared about was how it looked from the outside. But I wanted to do the job right.
Usually only God sees whether we did a job right. Only He sees what is behind the finished coat of paint. So I struggle with this idea of being broken because it seems to imply not doing the job right. But I know it is really a question of trust: doing the job right, but trusting God to make it right, not me and my abilities. I think it’s hard to admit we’re broken because then it is no longer about us, the clay pots, but about the Potter Himself. We’re broken and we need Him to make us right.
Waits
Brokenness has nothing to do with how well or how poorly you do a job. We are to do everything we do as unto the Lord. The Lord would want those windows as perfect as you could get them. What am I saying? YOU would want them that way because he made you that way. Brokenness has more to do with BEING than DOING. Are we good enough to be like Christ? Except through embracing our brokenness and trusting in Christ’s power.
Yeah, I know that. (Oh no, I’m sounding like your daughter!) Actually, you make a very, very good point – it’s about being, not doing. I think perfectionists, the self-righteous, the prideful, like me, all equate doing with being. We think that in order to do perfectly, we have to be perfect; which gets back to the idea of being good enough for God to use us. I really like Clay’s post and think he hits the nail on the head. I also appreciate your comment that we need to embrace our brokenness and trust in Christ’s power.
As you can probably tell, I’m struggling with some issues right now that your series on Questions and Answers really spoke to. I have a couple issues in my life right now where I am really struggling to embrace my brokenness and trust in Christ’s power. Please pray for God’s grace in those areas. Thanks.
What a thought-full and thought-provoking post. Poet-lyricists like Cohen (and Fischer!) bring light to our broken minds and spirits.
There is also a flip side to the idea of brokenness. In addition to the teaching that suggests that our goal is a crack-less Christian life, there is also the teaching that the goal is a broken life. It gets expressed something like, “Until you are totally broken before God, he cannot use you.” It is, I believe, a broken theology of sanctification.
When I was saved, I began to grow in God. I fully believed that Christ had begun a good work in me and he would complete it. I never had an “experience” of brokenness and never felt I needed to seek one in order to love and serve Jesus more, or to be more acceptable to him. There was never any question in my mind that I was a “cracked pot,” and that the Spirit of God had a lot of work to do to make me like Christ. However, I did question whether I needed to “feel” broken before God could use me. I did not see that anywhere in Scripture.
So, yes, we are cracked pots. And the light of Christ shines both into and out of those cracks. But brokenness is not the goal. We hear Paul say in the NIV, “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Col 1:28). The NASB, though, expresses teleion more accurately as “complete.” And that is the goal. Not perfection, not brokenness, but completeness…that we would be whole in Christ. The cracks are not removed, they are filled in by Christ himself.
I can’t imagine how brokenness could ever be a goal. It is simply a proper assessment of myself. I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. That’s a perspective, and I can do nothing too attain it except to have my eyes opened to see myself as I truly am. The way I see it, the sinner and the Pharisee are both broken, but only the sinner sees it. The Pharisee is blind to his own brokenness, a blindness that Jesus says is the worst kind.
Not to nit-pick, but another way to put that is that the REPENTANT sinner sees his sin and the UNREPENTANT sinner doesn’t. Many Pharisees came to Christ, including the Apostle Paul, Nicodemus, et al. A Pharisee can repent, in which case he WOULD see his sin. 🙂
Sorry, I was referring to the specific story that Jesus told about the Pharisee who prayed how glad he was not to be the Publican (sinner) down on his knees pleading “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” I meant that Pharisee and that sinner not any sinner or any Pharisee. Should have been more clear.
I agree with you, John. Just to be clear, I was not taking issue with anything you said in your post. You nailed it. I was just adding another perspective, which sad to say, does have a school of followers. Grace Walk, a popular book in the 90s, took that view and got us disinvited from a book discussion group because we took issue with the author’s theology, and hence the other group members’ experiences.
Here’s a quote from the book (first from Watchman Nee, followed by the author’s comment): “‘Whether our works are fruitful or not depends upon whether our outward man has been broken by the Lord so that the inward man can pass through the brokenness and come forth.’…While this breaking process is painful, it cannot be avoided if a Christian is to experience maximum usefulness in the ministry of Christ.” The author had some good things to say about grace, but this theology of brokenness was not one of them (IMHO).
In my reading of Scripture, I agree with you that brokenness is a given. It is not, as some do indeed teach, a state we need to desire or to pursue in order to achieve true spirituality. Thank God for the Spirit of Christ who is taking our brokenness and making us whole and complete in him. Hope that clarifies my comment.
John,
our mutual friend Steve Garber told me he had shared with you how much I enjoyed your writing…..glad to have found you again!
Blessings from Coronado,
Nanxh
Glad to have you here!
Here’s to a bunch of crackpots!
Oh, if only I had read this when you posted it (I’m a little behind, as you can see)! I have been feeling “less than” lately, “tried and found wanting”, etc. And this by Christian friends (at least that’s my perception). I admit that I need work, but to have it brought to my attention was painful.
Thanks for reminding me that it’s okay not to be perfect, or “as good as”. That’s not to say I’m going to stay the way I am, but that I need to remember that I’m unique and, while I may never be in the same place on my Christian journey as others, that’s okay.