“Broken Things”

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Tonk Talk 

Broken Things

Ecc 3:1-3, states, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”

 For me, this must be a time for things to break down because I do not remember a time in my life when so many of our things have broken at once.  During these past three months, our washing machine broke, our old desktop computer finally broke down for good, one of our house fans stopped working, one of our ceiling fans also broke, our garden house broke too, my glasses broke, and just this morning my alarm clock died; this is just the shortlist and not to mention all the things related to Covid-19.  (I very thankful nothing major, expect the washing machine has broken, or at least not yet).  Now I don’t know if it is because we have used these items more while we have been staying home or what the reasons are.  (One elder I used to work with, would tell me I had too much stuff; maybe he is right).

Now with the way things are made today, very few of these items can be repaired, most can only be recycled or thrown away. Someone has made the commit that we live in a “throw-away” society; rarely do we or can we fix things and for that matter, it is almost as cost affect to buy a new product.  Broken things in our eyes are not very useful.

But you know not everything in life that breaks needs to be thrown away.  Vance Havner wrote, “God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”

We have a God who uses broken things; He can even use people when sin has broken their lives.  Have you noticed as you read the Bible that it is often the broken people, the rebels (Moses), the prodigals (son in Luke 15), and the outcast (Rehab) that God uses?

In fact, often before we can be used in God’s service we too must be broken.  It is when we are broken, we have a greater appreciation for what God has done for us, we realize our blessings, and we are more useful in His Kingdom. 

Psalm 51:17, tells us, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

If your life is broken, come to Christ today, let today be a time to build up!  Christ can rebuild our broken lives when we confess our faith in Him (Rom. 10:9,10), repent of our sins (Acts 17:30,31), put Him on in baptism for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38) and continue to live faithful unto the Lord (Rev. 2:10). 

We sometimes sing, “Bring Christ your broken life, So marred by sin.  He will create anew, Make whole again.  Your empty wasted years, He will restore, And your iniquities, Remember no more.” (Hymn, Bring Christ your broken life, by T.O. Chisolm).

Will you bring your broken life to Christ today? 

Written by Mark T. Tonkery

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