The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

Reaching the end of me is a daily journey I must make because it’s where Jesus shows up and my real life in him begins.

we want to be made whole without having to be broken.

They say life is but a dream, but if so, there are too many abrupt wake-ups in it. I bet you’ve had more than a few. I mean those times when life was on cruise control, but then something happened and you were suddenly in for a rough ride. The end of me often comes when my dreams come to an end.

Jesus is saying that God’s kingdom begins in you when you come to the end of yourself and realize you have nothing to offer.

At the end of yourself, you have an opportunity to experience the presence of God in a way you never have before. Maybe you’ve embraced some wonderful things and lost them. But there’s no embrace like the divine one.

So, let’s be clear. You will fall into sin. Everyone does. And you’ll still be slow to face your mourning. Everyone is. Just understand that in your hesitancy to mourn your sin, you’re also delaying the blessing of God. There is no way to get to that blessing without the mourning that precedes it.

Tears begin to flow from her eyes, first just one or two and then a cascade. At this point all she can do is be real, because the love of Jesus is real.

He begins to introduce us to the great kingdom paradox: at the end of me, I find real life in him.

By brokenness, I mean the acknowledgment of it, the full and unflinching acceptance that we are bankrupt, poor in spirit, and have nothing to offer.