Daily Devotional

As a kid, out of all things, I really enjoyed coloring. It was something that I often did with my cousins. We'd spend hours coloring and you could find coloring books and crayons pretty much all over the house. It was and still is a favorite pastime of mine. Whenever going to a friend or family member's house I'd often look for the coloring books and crayons. What I've realized as I look back is that I would judge a person's coloring skills based on what their crayons looked like. First, if they weren't "Crayola" I knew they weren't very serious. Also, if their crayons were pristine or in really good shape, I'd say they were amateur at best. What I discovered, was the journeymen artists, had boxes of crayons that were either worn down, were missing the wrappers, or many of the crayons were broken. These folks are the ones whose coloring books I spent time admiring because I knew they knew how to color. And what I learned is that broken crayons still color. In fact, broken crayons are often used to create beautiful works of art.

I've noticed that we, especially in this century, live in a throwaway society. If something doesn't work or it's broken we simply throw it away and get a new one. It's too much of a burden to spend time fixing things that are broken. The convenience of just getting a new one is too good to pass up. This becomes a serious problem however when we treat others or ourselves this way. Because we have baggage or have made mistakes or have you even had something done to us that would classify us as "broken", we then see ourselves as is not worthy to be used by God. We think that He would be better off using someone who has everything together, someone who has more experience, someone who isn't as "messed up". I heard someone say our problem is that we often, "Compare our blooper reels to other's highlight reels." However when we look at Scripture, we don't see God using the perfect people. SPOILER ALERT: there are no perfect people. What we see is the Lord amidst the chaos and brokenness of man working within people showing His redemptive power.

I personally have spent too much time in my life trying to be the best person that I can be and to an extent that may be encouraged. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. However, if we get so caught up in trying to do things in our own strength, we will then forget that God uses broken people to save broken people. This past week at VBS, I was reminded that God tends to do His best work in those who realize how short they come to His standard and allow for Him to use the brokenness in their lives for His honor and glory. Just like that broken crayon, God is able to use our broken lives to create something beautiful.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.