Stuff Breaks

Stuff breaks. Yes, I know that. And as a father of eight children, running around under the age of thirteen, our stuff breaks faster than most.

There was the industrial quality fan that I purchased, supposedly able to take a beating and survive; well ours didn’t.

There was the nice new faucet that grandpa bought us because the old one was quite hideous; well, we’re pretty sure one of the little ones swung on it to reach a towel.

AND OF COURSE I could always mention each computer, car or lawn mower that has had to go its merry way to the land of the broken, simply because life happens and stuff is not made to last forever.

But you know, if you think about it, there is something worth considering here, for though the stuff of our lives starts off doing well only to slowly fall apart, we can’t really say the same for ourselves. Do you know what I mean?

As part of the human family, we start off broken don’t we? Though adorable and innocent, and even when given the healthiest of interactions as a child, sooner or later our character defects, our vices, and our disordered passions begin to make themselves known.

So here is one of the great mysteries of life.

Though broken, our destination is to be whole; though finite by all appearances, we are actually meant to last forever.

And that’s not just me talking or hoping. That is actually the whole point of the Bible.

It is the wonderful and real story of God loving you in your brokenness to the point where you are somehow made whole again.

And that friend is happening right now. You more than anyone else know how broken you are. You know what you could have accomplished today but did not. You know what you should have said today but could not. You know even as you try to live a holy life, that you are broken, and that is a wonderful thing to notice indeed.

Because just as stuff breaks, it is even more true that our God heals. And right now, He is working on you.

Not because you are a mistake, but because He loves you; and NOTHING is going to change that.

Pray this with me: “God, you know I am broken, but I trust that you will not only heal me in Your time, but do great things in me, for myself and my family, and also – if I let you – for the world.”