Broken Things In A Broken World

By Pastor Steve VanAmburg

Recently, I have found myself with a number of “projects” of things that needed to be repaired.  As originally made, they were fine, but with time they wore out, sustained damage, or just plain broke.  Our church roof had to be replaced because of last year’s hurricane.  Praise God, that’s done.  Our church copier died, even though it was under a service contract.  We were told it couldn’t be fixed.  Praise God, we were able to replace it.

          In my personal life, I just had to replace the bulb in my car headlight.  It’s hard to see at night with just one light working.  Thank the good Lord for my high beams.  My refrigerator door bracket was broken and that needed mending.  So far so good with the JB weld epoxy bond.  It’s still holding together and it turned out better than I expected, but you can still see where it was repaired.  My car is going into the shop for some body work next week.  And finally, I’m celebrating one year since my triple bypass heart surgery.  Some things just break with time.  Things wear out.  In a perfect world we wouldn’t have these problems.  But because of our sin, creation has been polluted.  Sin and death have come into our world.  Crime is abundant, death is all around us, and we have to live with our imperfect nature which will eventually lead to our death.

          We do our best to fix the things of the world, but even our fixes don’t last forever.  I’m grateful for my doctors, surgeons, and the hospital medical staff that got me through last year’s heart surgery, but I know it won’t last forever.  But I’m not depressed or hopeless.  I know there is something better to come.

          As we approach “Holy Week” we are reminded that Jesus paid for our sins and gives us hope in this broken world.  His heart was broken when He saw the people of Jerusalem not understanding what He had come to do.  So, he wept over the city.  Having been betrayed and facing the agony of the cross, He prayed intensely in the Garden of Gethsemane.  John 22:42 records it “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Our sin broke His heart and drew Him to the cross so He could die for our sins.  In doing that, he broke the curse of sin, paid for our sin, and He gives us the hope of living with Him forever.

          So, I now have hope.  Yes, someday I will die, but Jesus will give me a new resurrection body like His that will be perfect.  And someday my car and refrigerator will die, but they will be replaced with a heavenly home that Jesus is making for us that doesn’t need cars and refrigerators and instead will reflect the beauty of heaven.  And all those broken relationships will be healed with an abundance of God’s love.  The key to our healing comes when we are broken over our sin and we realize we need Jesus’ healing and help.  Let God heal you and prepare you for something better.  Remember, the “best is yet to come.”