If we are to come into the right relationship with God, the first thing we must learn is that our will must be broken to His will. To be broken is the beginning of revival. It is painful, it is humiliating, but it is the only way. It is being 'Not I, but Christ', and a 'C' is a bent 'I'. The Lord Jesus cannot live in us fully and reveal Himself through us until the proud self within us is broken. This simply means that the hard, unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks its own glory, at last bows its head to God's will, admits that it is wrong, gives up its own glory in order that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all. In other words, it is dying to self and self-attitudes.

'I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me...' --  Gal 2:20 

Being broken is both God's work, and ours. He brings His pressure to bear, but we have to make the choice. If we are really open to conviction as we seek fellowship with God, He will show us the expressions of this proud, hard self that cause Him pain. At this point we can either stiffen our necks and refuse to repent, or we can bow our heads and say, 'Yes, Lord.' 

Brokenness in daily experience is simply a humble response to the conviction of God. Inasmuch as this conviction is continuous, we shall need to be broken continually. This can be very costly when we see all that this will involve --  the rights and selfish interests that will need to be given up and the confessions and restitutions that may also be necessary.

We are not likely to be broken except at the Cross of Jesus. The willingness of Jesus to be broken for you is the all-compelling motive for us to be broken too. We see Him, who is in the form God, counting not equality with God a prize to be grasped at and hung on to, but letting it go for us and taking upon Himself the from of a servant  -- God's servant, man's servant. We see Him willing to have no rights of His own, no home of His own, no possessions of His own, willing for men to hurl their insults at Him and not retaliate, willing to let men tread on Him and not strike back or defend Himself. Above all, we see Him broken as He meekly goes to calvary to become men's scapegoat by bearing their sins in His own body on the tree.

Our aim in loving our enemy is to bless him not curse him. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Our first and most urgent longing for our enemies is that they be blessed—that they repent and that they trust Christ and that his ransom pay all their debts and give them salvation. Yes, that is the goal. It’s the goal of this every true follower of Christ. Live so as to lead people into an enjoyment of the mercy of God. 

Romans 12:20-21

    "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Both the fact that this is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, and the fact that  Romans 12 is based on Romans 1-11, I want to stress that what Jesus Christ did in the last days of his life on earth (Holy Week), and the way Paul describes it in Romans 1-11 are the foundation and the model for how we overcome evil with good.

“We Are the Disciples of Him, Who Died for His Enemies”

One way to put it is this (I take it from a great commentary on Proverbs by Charles Bridges, p. 478): “We are the disciples of him, who died for his enemies.” Are you a Christian? Then you are the follower of one who died for his enemies. Are you not a Christian? Then you are being pursued by one who died for his enemies—Jesus Christ. In fact, your presence here is part of his design to overcome the enmity between you and him, and bring you to himself.

For more information, please visit our mother Church website, http://www.wcg.org.

Transformed by Christ

In the early 1930s, Herbert Armstrong began a ministry that eventually became the Worldwide Church of God. He had many unusual doctrines. These he taught so enthusiastically that eventually more than 100,000 people attended weekly services. After he died in 1986, church leaders began to realize that many of his doctrines were not biblical. These doctrines were rejected, and the church is now in full agreement with the statement of faith of the National Association of Evangelicals. Here is the story of how the church developed and how it changed.