Broken, but not forever

For the past year or so, I have been confronted with and comforted by the fact that God uses broken people. He actually delights in using them. Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of this several times: "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord'" (1 Cor. 1:26-31).
"My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).
I think of a few of the broken people God used:

• Leah the unloved
• Rahab the prostitute
• Ruth the widow
• Hannah the childless

I am so thankful that God can do something good with our hurt when we bring it to Him. Our pain does not disqualify us from service in God's kingdom; rather it allows God to be magnified instead of us. Therefore, I say with Paul: "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).

And yet this is not a permanent state. I read this today:

Everything Is as It Was Meant to Be
In heaven, things are not stained or broken; everything is as it was meant to be. Think for a moment of the wonder of this. Isn't every one of our sorrows on earth the result of things not being as they were meant to be? And so when the kingdom of God comes to earth, wonderful things begin to unfold. Look at the evidence; watch what happens to people as they are touched by the kingdom of God through Jesus. As he went about "preaching the good news of the kingdom," Jesus was also "healing every disease and sickness among the people" (Matt. 4:23). When he "spoke to them about the kingdom of God," he "healed those who needed healing" (Luke 9:11).

What happens when we find ourselves in the kingdom of God? The disabled jump to their feet and start doing a jig. The deaf go out and buy themselves stereo equipment. The blind are headed to the movies. The dead are not at all dead anymore, but very much alive. They show up for dinner. In other words, human brokenness in all its forms is healed. The kingdom of God brings restoration. Life is restored to what it was meant to be. "In the beginning," back in Eden, all of creation was pronounced good because all of creation was exactly as God meant for it to be. For it to be good again is not for it to be destroyed, but healed, renewed, brought back to its goodness.

Those glimpses we see in the miracles of Jesus were the first-fruits. When he announces the full coming of the kingdom, Jesus says, "Look, I am making all things new!" (Rev. 21:5 NLT, emphasis added). He does not say, "I am making all new things." He means that the things that have been so badly broken will be restored and then some. "You mean I'll get a new pair of glasses?" my son Sam asked. "Or do you mean I'll get a new pair of eyes, so I won't need glasses?" What do you think? Jesus didn't hand out crutches to help the disabled.
(from Desire, by John Eldredge, p. 113-14)

While I am thankful God chooses to make something beautiful out of our brokenness, I find even greater joy in the fact that brokenness doesn't last forever. A day is coming when we will be changed back into what we should have been. I think of the ending of the movie Beauty and the Beast, where the spell is broken and the Beast and all his household objects are turned back into the lovely human beings they used to be. All those who are in Christ will experience this as well. We will be miraculously changed, restored, and all of our imperfections will be erased. What a day, glorious day, that will be!