Kintsugi vs. the redemption of God (Devotional)
To read our first devotional go here
Have you ever felt ashamed of a personal fault or flaw?
I have many times.
And sometimes the shame keeps me staying home instead of going out
with friends, or holds me back from trying something new, or worse, keeps me
from growing in a new job or position. I hate feeling like I don’t measure up,
but then it’s not my job TO measure up, or even to measure at all-that’s God’s
job.
When I
feel like a hot mess, it’s God’s job, God’s pleasure to repair me. Piece by
piece, but… there’s more!
Consider
God’s handiwork likened to the Japanse approach of Kintsugi.
Kintsugi
(pron. “Ken-soo-jee”) is an ancient Japanese approach to repair broken pottery
and embrace and enhance the repairs as a beautiful part of the pottery's story.
The Japanese and those who practice Kintsugi believe that not only is our brokenness a part of life, but it’s worthy of special handling.
Doesn't that sound like someone else we know?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. -2 Cor. 5:17
Kintsugi
mirrors the story of God and His restoration in us. We try to hide our sins and
scars, but God sees them all.
By
owning them, we join God in His restoration. He invites us to wear our repaired
flaws as part of our story, and His story in us.
And he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness," therefore most gladly will I rather boast
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities in reproaches, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak,
then I am strong." -
The Artist at Work
Kinstugi is the art of repairing something with gold, with the understanding and appreciation of it having been broken, and the creation of something more beautiful in return. Like the art of Kintsugi, God repairs the broken chips and cracks in our lives by filling us with His golden grace. As Jesus' spilled His precious blood out for our sins on the cross, God provides the grounds for grace.
Through redemption, He
restores what's broken. Through His mercy, He makes us His masterpiece. He makes us more beautiful, and the more we
surrender our hearts and our hurts to Him and trust Him to heal us, the better
we'll trust and soon see His work in our lives.
On Tuesdays during the women's
prayer group, I'm so glad Diane introduced to us the ACTS acronym, (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication/Spiritual Warfare), a formula
for prayer where after we profess our adoration of God, we then confess our
recent sins and need for repentance. It's sometimes one of the hardest things
for me to do, and yet it's the most revealing and cleansing.
It's a reminder God invites us to wear our repaired flaws as
part of our story and His story in us. Just as the lacquer takes months to dry
along the broken piece, God's restoration takes years, decades and often our
whole lives to complete. Forgiveness takes but a moment, and finally accepting
Jesus takes but a moment, but the full work takes time to set up in our soul,
and in our life.
Ps. 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up
their wounds.
God is the master painter and potter, handling us all the more
carefully because of our chips, cracks, mistakes and flaws-- He is not ashamed
of them. He is not ashamed of us.
When we admit this, when we tell our story of brokenness, we
also tell of skill and patience and character of the Master repairer.
Our story, after all is His story. And His story becomes our
story.
This sets us up for God to heal the world, starting with one
broken individual. When something breaks, how often do we toss it in the
dumpster? Aren’t you glad God never does that with us?
At this point, I showed the piece that Mary and I made together. (Disclaimer: Now, this wasn't an actual broken down and glued back together piece, we just marked it with gold paint markers to make it look like a kintsugi piece.)
“There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in,” to quote Leonard Cohen.
Just as the shimmery gold in Kintsugi binds
the broken pottery, giving it new worth, Christ bonds our brokenness and
redeems our lives with His crimson blood.
As we hand over our lives over to Him the
Master craftsman, we allow Him to transform us into something even more
beautiful. Not because of our cracks, but because of His repair.
Thank you.
2
Cor. 12: 9-10 And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My
strength is made perfect in weakness” therefore most gladly will I rather boast
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities in reproaches, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
Reflection:
How may we apply the golden strands of
God’s grace to our lives?
· Ponder the idea of restoration
· Trust God, and refuse to believe the
enemy’s lie that we are worthless because we’re broken
· The next time you break a dish, or run
into a hurting person, or feel the convicted of your own sin, think of God’s
beautiful restorative power. Remember what God is doing found
only in and through the work and person of Jesus Christ.
Our world is
full of broken people (not one is righteous), If we admit it, we’re all
desperately trying to hide our bruises, cracks, and scars. We all fear being
tossed aside like a broken and shattered glass, or a broken dish. God will
never do that to you, in fact, he loves to exalt the humble.
Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides
Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals
Other related scriptures:
John 10:10 The devil comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come so they may have life and have it to the full.
Ps. 31:2 Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily, be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.
Ps. 34:18 He is close to the broken hearted and saves those crushed in spirit.
Jn. 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you will have you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Comments
Post a Comment