Damaged Goods

Nº 322

October 1, 2024

Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory. - J.R. Miller

Several years ago, while visiting the grocery store, I noticed a shopping cart filled with dented cans, jars without labels, crushed boxes, and scarred packaging. The handwritten sign read: Damaged Goods!

Wow! That summarized the human condition. We all enjoy a measure of goodness due to God’s image imprinted on our lives. But at the same time, we all carry dents, wrestle with identity issues, feel crushed, and hide scars. Too often we allow the damage to define us, and we fail to cultivate a life of goodness.

Fortunately, God is in the reclamation business. He can take our damaged and crushed hearts and restore them to better than new. In His perfect timing, He will “provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:3)

In God’s own time and in His own way, He will repurpose and repackage us for His glory and our good. We cannot restore ourselves. By faith we must trust His grace to do its redemptive work and restore our souls.

Excelsior,

Dan Bolin

Author & President

Refueling in Flight Ministries