Fragmented Lives, Fragmented Hearts: Who, Where, Why Part 2

18 Mar 2013

‘Post-Modernism breaks up lives!’

Sounds like a radical headline, but the reality is that it’s true. Think with me for a minute.

In today’s world we are a people driven from pillar to post by the demands of life. We seem to have a never ending to do list with a consequent never ending list of places to go and people to see.

Our world, and therefore our lives have been broken down into little sub-units, blocks of time where we are to be in a certain place and do certain things, and there are far more of these blocks than ever before.

What post-modernism has done with this is take these blocks and turn them into sub-cultures where each activity, each group of people we associate with, each club or group to which we belong has an identity associated with it and as such a culture all of its own.

In Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’ Jacques gives that famous speech;

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They all have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,” 

The parts Shakespeare is referring to are the stages of life as one grows from infancy to old age. However, today we find ourselves playing many parts, or roles, in the course of an average day.

This contributes to an existential crisis where we find ourselves wondering who we are meant to be at any given time. ‘I am with these people so I need to behave like this’, or ‘I am part of this group or set and this is the culture here so this is how I have to be.

In the midst of all this I find myself looking for something to bring some continuity to it all. Something to bind together all of these fragmented parts of my life and make sense of the whole. Something that ultimately defines me and provides my identity regardless of where I am, who I happen to be with, or what role I am performing at any given moment. Somewhere I can drop the actor’s masks I have been wearing and find some acceptance,peace, and rest. Our fragmented lives have led to fragmented hearts.

Reading from Isaiah 61 Jesus says that he has come to bind up the broken hearted. How aptly that phrase describes this generation; brokenhearted.

Broken emotionally, broken spiritually, and fragmented by the constrictions of post-modern life.

Jesus brings words of hope into our fragmented lives. He wants to bind up the broken hearted. He wants to set us free from our slavery to constantly performing for the benefit of others and acting as they would have us act. And He wants to release us from the prison of our experience as we struggle to find our true identity.

This healing, this freedom, this new identity is something that He offers to us freely, not based on our performance but guaranteed because of His.

Jesus will accept you just as you are, you will find a true home in him. He promises us that He will take our burdens upon himself and giveus rest.