THE GLUE OF GRACE

THE GLUE OF GRACE

To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Ephesians 4:7 

God often breaks us in order to remake us. For almost anything good to be made, it first must be broken. A tree is broken, and a house is built. Soil is broken, and a crop is grown. Grain is broken, and bread is baked. People are broken, and caring and compassionate believers are reborn. Often it is out of our brokenness that our greatest influence comes. Often before God uses a man or woman greatly, he first breaks them severely.

A church ordered new stained-glass windows for its sanctuary. All the windows arrived except for the largest panel at the front of the church. The congregation anxiously waited for this panel’s delivery. When the large piece arrived, they found the glass had been broken in transit. The people were dismayed. But then a skilled artist in the church asked if he could take the pieces and try to make a suitable replacement window. In a short while, the artist unveiled the window he had fashioned. The entire congregation felt that the artist’s masterpiece was more beautiful than the original. What was broken was remade into something spectacular.

God’s grace sometimes comes in ways we would never expect.

Grace is the glue that takes the pieces of our broken lives and binds them into something new and beautiful. It is the welcome mat that declares to the repentant prodigal, “Welcome home.” It is the sponge that cleans the blotched record of our sins so they are remembered no more. Grace is the announcement that there is life after failure and hope for broken, rebellious people. ♦

PRAYER

Thank you for giving your grace to me …