Our sin actively causes brokenness. But not all brokenness is the result of our personal sin.…The ultimate answer is not a false gospel of self-improvement, whether personal or societal. It is the true gospel of Jesus Christ…He defeated sin and began the restoration of all things, starting in us.

This past month we started a men’s Bible study at church, and a line has stayed with me:

Brokenness is not the same as sin. Sin is rebellion against a holy God. Brokenness is the effect of that rebellion in our lives and the world around us.
—J. Josh Smith

That distinction is simple, but it is profoundly clarifying.

Scripture tells us that sin entered the world through Adam, and with it came death and decay (Romans 5:12). When Adam sinned, creation itself was “subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20). Everything fractured. We live in a fallen world filled with pain, anguish, hurricanes, disease, and disability. That is brokenness—the consequence of rebellion echoing through creation.

Yet our world often confuses sin and brokenness in both directions.

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