If you are working on your sexual purity or on recovery from a sexual addiction and are experiencing brokenness from it, I want to say: Welcome to the Broken World Club!
I’m thankful to Gordon MacDonald who coins the term “broken world people” in his book Rebuilding Your Broken World. Broken world people are the people who realize that they have junk in their lives and are powerless to overcome it on their own. They are the people who have been broken and humbled. They have come to the end of themselves and realized that they need help.
Broken world people are the people who understand exactly what you’re going through.
And many broken world people have navigated through their junk, found victory, and come out much stronger. The Broken World Club is the best place to be. In your quest for sexual purity, you need to find these “broken world” people and make them part of your support team. Broken world people:
1. Understand what you’re going through – You need people who understand what you are going through. They’ve been there. Even if their struggle was not for sexual purity, someone who has been broken will understand what it’s like to struggle. Broken world people know that all of us struggle, we all have junk, and we all have hard times or deep woundings that overwhelm us.
2. Know the deep depths of hurt – Broken world people have all been hurt deeply. They have struggled. They have come face-to-face with themselves, their hurts, their emotions, their wounds. They know what it means to be broken. They know what it means to lose things and to suffer consequences.
3. Know the deep depths of God’s love – Many broken world people have found that God is near to the brokenhearted. Broken world people have a deeper understanding of God’s love, mercy, goodness and help. They’ve learned that He’s the One who brings the deep healing and they can be an encouragement to you as you seek your own healing.
4. Have seen the back side of the suffering – Broken world people can help us get perspective on our suffering. In our sexual addiction recovery, we need to know that there is a tomorrow, there is hope and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We tend to be shallow in our understanding of life and suffering. Start chasing after people who have been through the depths of suffering and made it through.
I talk a lot on our Porn to Purity website about the importance of finding safe people to talk to. Safe people are the people who will listen to you, encourage you and support you on your recovery journey. They may have gone through their own battle for sexual purity, or they may have had some other form of suffering.
Broken world people tend to be some of the safest people to be around. They will be your biggest supporters, your listening ears, and part of the wisdom that God wants to give you to help you navigate through your journey.
Jeff Fisher is a blogger and podcaster from Raleigh, NC. Deep recovery began when his pornography addiction caused him to lose his ministry position. For the first time, he began discovering the sexual health that God intended for him and for his marriage. Jeff and his wife Marsha run Porn To Purity.com, a site designed to offer hope, encouragement, and resources to individuals and couples struggling with sexual sin.