When it's my time to prepare the Friday devotional, I'm never at a loss for what to share because inevitably, God always seems to provide me with at least three or four little gems, and I then have the difficult task of deciding between them. I get a lot of my inspirations from little devotional books that I've purchased myself or from ones given to me by good friends. Such is the case this week, when I had the choice of about three. But, as it turns out, the devotional for my nightly reading last night from a book given to me by Sara Botts for Christmas, "Be Still...And Let Your Nail Polish Dry," provided just the message which I think is applicable to all of us. One of the four authors of the book, Andrea K. Boeshaar, at page 130, used her literary skills to remind us of something that can be so easily forgotten, and that is, God can and does use broken things "for His purposes."
Andrea shared the following three Scriptures highlighting her message, and as Christians, we've all heard and said them, but do we really gain the strength and use the power that is conveyed by these promises of God? #1 - "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" - John 1:17 ; #2 - "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called to His purpose" - Romans 8:28; and #3 - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness " - 1John 1:9.
As Andrea pointed out, she has known of too many Christians who gave up on their faith after they had sinned once, more than once, more than twice [you get the message], which in their mind, was so horrible that there was no way for them to ever have a purpose in God's Kingdom because how could God want to use them. I'm not sure, but it seems pretty apparent to me that God cannot be looking for "perfect" persons to fulfill His purposes because He would have a fairly empty house, wouldn't you agree? All of us, [yeah, you and me] at some point in our lives, have fallen short of what God has expected of us, and could, if we dwell on it, see ourselves as unworthy "broken pieces". However, I take solace in the above scriptures that it shouldn't matter that others might condemn us for our past mistakes, because we know and believe, that if (when) we confess our sins and seek God's forgiveness, He doesn't condemn us but forgives and purifies us. We are at that point restored, no matter what anyone else might think. So, we must accept the forgiveness and purification, be thankful for it, and then use our lives (broken pieces and all) to serve Him, for His purposes (which is really why we're here), and in so doing, glorify Him.
As I write this devotional, it gives me such a warm feeling in my heart to let you know that I shared the very essence of this message today with Pastor Rick Ballester, when John and I were blessed to visit him today at the care facility where he was recently transferred. Maybe, it's "wishful thinking" on my part, but it seemed to me that it brought a gentle reminder (and smile) to Pastor Rick (as he sighed in agreement) that God is going to use all of what he has gone through and is now going through for His purposes, because God works "all things" for the good of those who love Him. It is a promise for which all of us "broken pieces" can cling, and I plan to do just that. How about you?
Have a very blessed weekend as we Christians look forward to Easter next Sunday. I'll take this opportunity to invite you, if you do not have a Church home, to visit with us for our Sunday Service at Grace Harbor this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or for our new Thursday Night Service at 8:00 p.m.
In His Name, Charlotte
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