006: You Are A Masterpiece
Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today we are going to talk about how our brokenness can be a beautiful thing.
Have you ever dropped a water glass and watched it shatter into a million pieces? Our lives can seem like this. Long periods of illness, poverty, unemployment, heartache, miscarriages, addictions, abuse—the list is endless—can make us feel like shattered glass, broken beyond salvage. Like Humpty Dumpty.
Yet there is hope for us because, while all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again, the King of Kings can put us together! Just as artists glue together broken glass and ceramic pieces to make beautiful stained glass windows and gorgeous mosaics, Jesus can make us something wonderful.
We need to change our perspective of how we look at our brokenness. Our wounds and hurts shape us, making us who we are today. Many of us don’t like ourselves because all we can see is the brokenness. We feel like pieces of glass strewn on the floor, waiting to be swept up and thrown into the trash. But God doesn’t see us that way. No matter how broken we might be, he doesn’t see us as something to be discarded as rubbish. He only sees us as he created us to be. I f we place ourselves in his hands and let him have his way, he will turn us into *living* stained glass windows, through which his light pours out and bathes the world around us in glorious grace.
I grew up in a lovely family. My parents were warm and caring, but I went through some experiences early in life that broke my psyche, like the broken glass we talked about. More bitter experiences followed, continuing the fragmentation. I became a very angry and highly volatile man. It was just a matter of time before my life came to a tragic end, but God stepped in before that happened. Since then, he has been putting me together, piece by piece. I often wish he would finish his work soon, but I have realized that God will not be rushed.
He is putting you together, too, and there are times you will feel frustrated and worthless. Even Paul felt that way. “What a wretched man I am!” he once exclaimed. “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” But then he knew the answer. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). And see what Christ did with Paul. Indeed, he took his time, but then it takes time to create a masterpiece.
So, be patient, dear friend. Don’t lose hope. Or faith. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame” (Romans 10:11). On the contrary, he will make you beautiful (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Remember, mosaics are made from broken pieces, but they’re still a work of art. So are you.
May the Spirit be with you.