A Life Wrapped Up in Jesus

There are a lot of gift exchanges going on. From office parties to church events, everyone is scrambling to find just the right thing for their occasion.  Even the dirty Santa get-togethers require bringing a good gift, because seeing it swapped around the room lets you know you succeeded.

For years I made homemade bows and turned them into butterflies and angels and such. I’ll admit the last few  years has made me rethink spending so much time on that. Now I just try to find big bows and quickly slap them on the package. I have already gotten a couple of gifts and one was wrapped extra nice. It just looked great and because it had a store tag on it, I knew it would be good.

Upon opening the package I found that the contents were broken. It was sitting there so pretty in the beautifully wrapped package I had just opened, but as I slipped my hand in to lift the gift out, only a piece of it lifted up. No problem. The giver did a really good job and I loved my present. It didn’t take long to make things right and the replacement was perfectly together.

Our lives are often like the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree. We’re done just right. Everything in order. Beautiful paper, perfectly formed bow, just the right tag and our life is perfectly presentable. No one knows what the contents are, but the cover is par excellence.  Our exterior is put together in all the right ways. But open the package and peer beneath the veneer and some are terribly broken. Quickly we want to recover the package and make it look good, but inside it’s just broken.  The beautiful covering can’t change what’s inside.

Oh beloved, God sees beneath the wrapping. He knows you. He’s well aware that inside you are suffering with a broken heart. It may be the loss of a loved one to death. It may be the loss of love due to another’s change of heart. It could be that your insides are full of regrets, fears, worries, troubles and agony.  You’ve done a good job of keeping up appearances for appearance’s sake but Jesus wants to get inside. He wants to probe all the brokenness. You want to hide it all. You haven’t dared tell anyone just how broken things really are, but God already knows. And Christ came on that beautiful starlit night to fix you. He is the Repairer of broken things. And He wants to repair your heart and mind and then display you for all the world to see His wonderful workmanship.

If you will let Him He will not just repair it all, but He will make it all new. I know it’s hard to believe right now, when you’re hurting and weary and wondering what you will do. But He promises. He says He loves you and that’s why He’s willing to mend your broken heart, heal your hurting mind and redeem your soul.  He’s for you and that’s why you can trust Him with the deepest contents of your heart.  Even the hardest of times, the broken moments, will show His glory as you are His most beloved child.  He will never leave you with a broken heart, no more than a parent would leave their child with a broken present. Then He will wrap you up in Him and guard your heart and mind forever.

A life wrapped up in Jesus is the most beautiful life you’ll ever live and that’s all that really matters as you let Him make your life just right inside and out.

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.

Matthew 6:30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

Jeremiah 17:4 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise.

Malachi 4:2 But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.