The Purpose of Dysfunction

The other day a friend commented on my post via Facebook saying, “Triggers are unhealed areas. They don’t have a purpose. They are dysfunctions and there are no dysfunctions in heaven. One thing the Body does not need is to act as if dysfunctions are somehow holy.” I agree and disagree with this gentleman. First triggers are unhealed areas…yes, absolutely. Our triggers have no purpose?…not so much. There is no dysfunction in heaven…for sure. Elevating our dysfunctions as holy…nope.

To make sure my point was clear I will revisit this. If it is still a debatable area, then that is fine but I don’t want to communicate something I was not intending on communicating. I think we can all agree that our shame and triggers are areas in our lives that need the healing touch of the Lord. Triggers are where our life traumas have left an emotional scar on our souls. When we are triggered we can follow those unhealed areas into shame and dysfunction. This is a destructive course. My triggers don’t glorify God but do they, as he said, have no purpose?

Purpose of Our Triggers

Well if I know anything of a Sovereign God, my humanity is no match for His divinity. Pain is a tremendous motivator, and believe it or not, it sometimes is the only recourse God has to incentivize us for change. In my last post I said, being triggered may be the perfect invitation to experience Christ’s Life. In this I am not implying that my dysfunction or triggers are holy in themselves, but they can be used by a Holy God to bring me to Himself. This is tremendous news! My Sovereign God uses my living situations to maneuver me to Himself.

I have seen this over and over, and in actuality, I am Christ’s because He was able to speak to me in my mess to bring me to Himself. If our dysfunction could prevent Him from moving, we would ALL be doomed. The Lord intends us to gain a living benefit from these things in our life that have wounded us. And while these sufferings make us dependent on Jesus’ Life to experience victory, that is not the only reason. His ultimate plan is for us to receive His Lordship over these events and allow His Life to come forth from these ashes to become vessels of healing and wholeness. There are benefits of His wounding, but we have to pursue the Father to access them.

Dysfunction in a Dysfunctional World

“Pain removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”

~ C.S. Lewis

So I am not lifting up shame, triggers or dysfunction as a virtue in themselves and certainly not holy, but I am exalting the God who can use these very same shames, triggers, and dysfunctions as a goad to prod me into Himself. All of life, with all its happenings, function as an invitation to know Him. We are all given the opportunity to increase our knowledge of the mysterious God. He is everywhere as David wrote, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”

While our world is still fallen and flawed, our God is perfect. The Good News of this is He is continually wooing us towards Himself even in our dysfunctional world. Christ’s pursuit is His grace and love looking to overtake us. Dysfunction, triggers or shame doesn’t disqualify me from knowing Him, it is just something that prevents me from seeing clearly what Jesus wants to reveal.

But our God will always reap the greatest rewards from all events and circumstances no matter how we see them from our limited perspective.
The Sovereign Touch ~ John Enslow