Ecclesiastes 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 desk top computer finally broke down for good, one of our house fans stopped working, one of our ceiling fans also broke, our garden hose broke too, my glasses broke, my alarm clock died and just yesterday our refrigerator started leaking; this is just the short list.
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 comment that we live in a “throw away” society; rarely do we or can we fix things, and it is almost as cost affective to buy a new product. Broken things in our eyes are not very useful.
However, 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 (Rahab) who God uses?
Often before we can be used in God’s service, we too must be broken. It is when we are broken that 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, and let today be a time to build up! Christ can rebuild broken lives when we confess our faith in Him (Romans 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 faithfully unto the Lord (Revelation 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.” (Bring Christ Your Broken Life by T.O. Chisolm). Will you bring your broken life to Christ today?
