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.

God Doesn't Just Patch Things Up!

“Can’t we just glue it?” is a question I’ve asked Danny often! I hate it when something special breaks. Recently I broke one of my favorite coffee cups. The handle broke right off! It’s special because one of my daughters gave it to me. I could not bear to throw it away, so my precious husband glued it back together for me. I plan to put a small bouquet of silk flowers in it. The word across the face of the cup is PEACE.  That cup reminded me of God’s peace that guards both my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.

Even though the cup is glued back together, the cracks still show. Glue does a wondrous job, but it won’t make the cracks go away. The evidence of an object being broken in the past remains, as delicate as human touch may be.

Our lives are as fragile as my coffee cup. We break easily. We hurt and we struggle and we get knocked off the table of happiness. We weep and hurt because of our brokenness. Then we try to find a way to patch ourselves up and get it all back together.  Although we may look put back together, if someone gets close enough the cracks remain. The chips are still there. The exterior, looking so put together and perfect is in fact still broken. I can’t really use my coffee cup for what it was once intended for because it’s broken. We can’t really be used for what God intended for us if we remain broken.

Patch work won’t do for a yielded vessel.  We have to be more than patched back together. We have to be made new! We have to let God come in and use His magnificent glue of the Word to make us right again. In our hearts we want to be used again – we don’t want to sit on a shelf and watch the rest of the world go its own way. But sometimes fear comes in and whispers to us “you can’t be used anymore”, “you were damaged too much”, “look at you- you’re a mess”, “this is just the way you are now”. The hurts, the fear, the anguish, the damage is done and if we hold onto all that nothing will make us right and we’ll be destined to hold flowers instead of being poured out for the Kingdom.

Are you broken this morning? Were you used of the Lord but now you feel you’re damaged beyond repair? Did someone come in a break your heart, break an oath, break your trust? Maybe you had a call on your life, but people hurt you and now you’re not ever going to let anyone hurt you again.  You thought you were content to be something you were never meant to be, but you still long to be used of God. If only you could piece things back together and quit feeling so fractured.

Oh beloved, there is hope! God will do what no one can do, not even yourself! He will apply His love to soothe your broken places! He will not just patch you, He will renew you! He will make ALL THINGS new! His promises are true and His abilities are beyond your wildest imagination! Let Him help you today! Let Him remold you into what you were always meant to be – a living, poured out vessel in His service!  Nothing will make you as happy as being where God wants you. Nothing will make you stronger than letting the Holy Spirit do what you can’t. Nothing will make you depend on God more than finding you can’t depend on anyone else to fix you - to fix what’s broken in your heart, your mind or your spirit.

The Holy Spirit is standing at the door of your heart! He wants to pour in His Truth to restore your soul this very day because He loves you and He’s for you and that’s what holds you together no matter what happens!

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

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 94:17-19 Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but Your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”