Stop Using the "Broken System" as an Excuse
“The system is broken.”
It has to be the most often repeated observation about foster care. And it’s true.
The brokenness of this broken system is usually attributed to malicious or lazy social workers, apathetic lawyers, and unreasonable judges. While I am quite sure they all exist, these people didn’t create the brokenness.
The first broken system in the trail of brokenness is the family.
God created the family as a perfect picture of Himself. Families are meant to mirror the fellowship He shares within the trinity. To make a place for His love to be displayed to the world in relationship, with hands and feet and words (Proverbs 5:31-32, Titus 2, John 13:34). He didn’t plan for it to be like this.
God intended for a husband and wife to be “joined together, [not] separate” (Mark 10:9). He desired for children to be viewed as “a heritage from the Lord...a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3). His command is for fathers to “not exasperate [their] children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). His heart is for mothers “to love their...children” (Titus 2:4).
But the family was broken. The family was broken, because people are broken. You and me and "them." All of us.
The bad news must precede the good news, the best news: Jesus died to save broken people. Jesus loves broken people.
And we mirror this Jesus when we love them, too.
We mirror this Jesus when we leave our comfort to step into brokenness. We mirror this Jesus when we choose to love those who are needy, unlovely, and can give us nothing in return. We mirror this Jesus when we sacrifice of ourselves to bring desperate souls into our families. We mirror this Jesus when we see brokenness and are moved to compassion and action.
The fact that the system and its people are broken is the very reason we engage it. Because we seek to mirror this Jesus.
