Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A Broken Collection

The Lord has been excavating my soul of late, unearthing childhood wounds so that He can apply the healing they desperately need. Through this process, He has made me more sensitive to the presence of similar wounds in others.
I have come to the conclusion that we are all broken. Every last one of us. Some are scarred by childhood abuse and neglect, most have self-inflicted wounds, carved by our own choices. The bottom line is that every last one of us is broken in some way by sin.
The Bible says we're all broken. Damaged. Scratched and scarred. Marred and blemished in some way (Rom 3:23). And there's nothing we can do about it. Absolutely nothing.
Then along comes the Lord. For some reason inconceivable to us, He really likes damaged goods.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
-Psalm 34:18
Scripture states this again and again (Ps 147:3), even in prophetic messages about Jesus the Messiah (Is 61:1). Come to think of it, Jesus even said that He came specifically for the broken, not the perfect (Mt 9:12-13, Lk 5:31-32, Mk 2:17)
Barbara Bloom once wrote, “When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.”
The Lord is like that. He searches out the damaged pieces. He uses the broken, filling in the fractures with His glory and redemption. What a strange Collector God is. And I'm so glad He found a place in His collection for me.

5 comments:

  1. Wow! I read this blog right after yours and I thought you might enjoy it. This is really an awesome blog and usually funny but today's is more serious and right on the money!
    http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/06/two-f-words/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stuffchristianslikeblog+%28Stuff+Christians+Like+-+Jon+Acuff%29

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  2. Jill, that was an excellent post. What insight from Father. Thanks for sharing it.

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  3. Beautifull, Renee. I'm so gratefull for a loving God who simply delights in picking the broken pieces of our lives and making something beautiful out of them. One of Hunter's recent messages about people who 'Struggle', has really helped me see that God indeed is working in my life. Struggle, discipline, healing, restoration, redemption; it's a beautiful thing.

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  4. Thank you, Ricky. :) God is so good.

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