Broken Pieces, broken people

It's very interesting to see what God can do. He's quite the masterpiece worker. We were looking at 1 Corinthians 4 which tells us of God's treasure in Jars of Clay (that's us!). We learned that these jars, very similar to clay pots today, were very cheap and dispensable. If one broke, it was no big deal. They were also very brittle, and if not handled with care they would do just that.

Yes, we often treat each other with little care and concern in our words and actions. We "toss" words and actions around as if we were all made of steel and could reject the punishment. But the truth is that those words and actions usually make an impression...no, worse...they usually break us.

But that's not the end of the story either...we are not only the ones being broken by others...by the world, satan and sinful flesh...but we are also part of the destruction. We break people too. It's a wonder how Christ can even call us his own.

But he does just that. He picks us up, when the world would look at our brokenness and quickly send us off on the next dump truck headed out to the nearest landfill. He pulls us into his family, and makes us his own. Then he places us in just the right place to be a part of his work (this is when we unveiled the new mosaic of Christ's nail-pierced hands reaching down), and by God's grace and power, we become a part of his healing work in our brokenness.

What a beautiful story of unconditional love and redemption to fulfill our lives with the Spirit's work in and through us. It is in our brokenness that all will understand that this is His work in us and not anything we can do apart from Him. Praise God for such wonderful grace and purpose in life!

NIV 2 Corinthians 4:7 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."