God is the great Kintsugi artist who mends our brokenness with the gold of his love. We have used Lent for honest self-examination and discipline, and I remind you that the pain of Good Friday leads to the joy of Easter. I urge you to press on and grasp the resurrection power that can make our broken pieces into something more beautiful. Like pottery joined with gold, our cracks remain visible but are filled with God's love and purpose. So be a Kintsugi Christian: accept the trials, trust God’s restoring work, and move forward into the life Jesus calls us to live.
Takeaways:
I remind you that even deep brokenness can be mended by God’s love like the art of Kintsugi.
We must accept seasons of suffering as necessary preparation for the joy and renewal that Easter brings.
I encourage you to record spiritual progress during Lent, then press forward into the new life Christ calls us to.
We are kintsugi people: broken pieces made beautiful and visible by the golden grace of God.
I emphasize that mourning and disciplined self-examination are not wasted; they prepare us for resurrection and lasting joy.
We should forget past failures without ignoring their lessons, pressing toward the heavenly prize God is calling us to receive.
This is the last of the encore episodes for now, though I will do them periodically because I think they're useful for you to listen to.
But I found this particular podcast to be especially appropriate right now.
It's the last one I did for Lent and it's entitled Broken Made Whole and I think it is particularly appropriate for my life and the ministry of Bible 805.
Now our God is the great Kintsugi artist, the artist who delights in mending the broken pieces of our lives with the gold of his love.
And that's what I feel like he's done with my life and my ministry.
Just put me back together and I pray that he might really use the beauty of what he puts back together as a living testimony and service to Him.
So enjoy the podcast and whenever you feel broken in any way, big or little, know God can put you back together in a way that's more beautiful and and wonderful than you can imagine.
Episode number 37 Broken Made Whole We've done a lot of sad introspection during this time of Lent, but the end point of all of it is rejoicing that comes on Easter Sunday for the Christian and the Christian life.
No matter how broken things might seem, there's always joy ahead.
Our quote for today is from Fulton Sheen, who said, unless there's a Good Friday in your life and there can be no Easter Sunday, our challenge is if you've taken it seriously.
Lent has hopefully been one long Good Friday of self examination, discipline and spiritual growth.
Now is the time to look back and record the progress you've made and rejoice that Easter is coming.
Let me talk about this a little bit more as we close out this time of Lent.
I'm reminded of the verse, weeping may last for the night, but but joy comes in the morning.
The alternating of sadness and joy is a pattern in much of our lives, and though we certainly don't like the times of sadness, sometimes joy wouldn't be possible without them.
The death of Jesus and the horrors that he suffered not only on the cross but in the betrayal and abandonment of his friends for reasons we cannot comprehend, were in some way essential for our salvation.
Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asked if there could possibly be another way, and God said no.
We might cry and scream and ask if there's another way for God to accomplish something in our lives that may be incredibly painful now.
And often God says no, we need to go through it before the resurrection comes.
And because of the pain, the final result has a beauty that wouldn't have been possible before the pain.
A visual illustration of this is the Japanese art of Kintsugi.
This is where broken pottery is mended using a joining material that's made of gold.
The cracks are still visible in the restored pottery, but they're filled or with gold.
Easter makes this possible.
In our lives, God can take the broken pieces of hopes and dreams, no matter how scattered they might be, and use his love as the glue.
Join them together to make our lives into something far more beautiful than they were before they were broken.
In little and big ways.
We're all kintsugi people, broken, yet put together for the glory of God.
Once God does that trust, he will hold you together and give you a new vision as you move forward into your life after Easter.
In its resurrection power, the Apostle Paul encourages us to grasp this power of Jesus and move ahead beyond Lent and into the rest of our lives.
With these words, I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.
I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another, I will experience the resurrection from the dead.
I don't mean to say that I've already achieved these things or that I've already reached perfection.
I press ahead to possess that perfection for which Jesus Christ has first possessed me.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I've not achieved it.
But I focus on this one thing.
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
So in closing for these Lenten devotions, press on to the life Jesus has called you to live.
Be a kintsugi Christian, one who might be broken, but mended by gold.
And remember in all the trials that you go through that Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed.
That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com.
For now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever.
