Good Morning All,
Isaiah 42:3; “a bruised reed
he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”
It is always amazing to me when we look at
or think about how fragile life really is.
We read in the paper about a young person killed in a car crash. They walked out the door in the morning and
then, suddenly, everything changed and they were no more. I remember visiting an elderly member a few
years ago whose bones were so brittle even a touch could fracture her hand and
the slightest bump cause pain. She was
so fragile that you didn’t want to touch her or have anyone else touch
her. Occasionally, we read about a
premature baby weighing 2 or 3 pounds barely covering the hand of their
parent. Life is fragile; we are
described as jars of clay in the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the
Corinthians.
Being so fragile, we are easily bruised and
broken and the faint wick of life is easily quenched and snuffed out. Fragile, breakable, weak, helpless; these are
a few ways to describe us and as fragile as our bodies are, our spiritual body
is even more fragile. We are easily
broken and crushed. If we were to stand
on our own merit and righteousness, we would soon be crushed and
destroyed. How will you accomplish
anything? How will we ever survive? How do we bear the guilt, the shame? What direction do we turn? Bending under the weight of these burdens, we
would soon break. So a loving God looked
upon us and brought about our salvation.
God sent Jesus to bring about our healing.
Jesus does this in a couple of ways. First, he takes our place by bearing the full
weight of God’s wrath, which we deserve yet Jesus spares us by taking our punishment
upon his own body, sheltering us with his perfect righteousness. In doing this, we are no longer beaten and
punished; we are now safe from God’s anger.
Then Jesus begins the process of restoring us by working healing of our
brokenness through the reconciliation of our being back to God. This is a process that will be completed when
Jesus returns and restores creation and all in it to the state of perfection it
was designed to live in.
Jesus gently and tenderly restores us
through his body and blood, shed for us that we might be made whole. He nurtures us with his love and forgiveness. We are made whole, strong enough to withstand
all that the devil and this world will throw at us. We can stand tall because Jesus builds us up
to withstand the winds and storms of life.
Jesus brings healing to you; he will restore you through his blood;
trust him to keep his promise to you.
Father, we come to you broken and fractured in this
world. We are bent and wounded; there is
no hope but you. Heal us, restore us,
make us whole through Jesus our Redeemer and Savior. Be with those who especially feel bent and
bruised. Send your comfort to their
heart. Send them your shielding
arm. Restore and return them to your
loving arms. In the precious name of
Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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