Whenever I'm thirsty and head to the cupboard, there is a certain type of glass in our collection that I will grab first: the Coca-cola glass. We got them from McDonalds a while back. They came in different colors and we tried to collect them all but ran out of time, so we were left with 1 purple, 1 blue, and 2 brown. For whatever reason, I took a liking to the brown ones and always choose those before the others. I'm sure the other glasses get jealous.
One day when retrieving my favorite glass I lost my grip. I watched in slow motion as it rolled out of my hand and fell downward, first hitting the counter and then smashing onto the kitchen floor. I stood there shocked. My favorite glass! I was ashamed of my clumsiness. A very simple task had gone utterly wrong and left me with a mess everywhere. Not only that, it was my husband who made the first move to start picking up the pieces.
I’m not sure why, but as a Christian, I sometimes feel pressure to have my life all together and to have all the answers. I am supposed to be "perfect" and the moment my human side shines through, that is when the world pounces on me shouting, "See, you're just like the rest of us!" The truth is, they’re right. I never said I was perfect and I never will be this side of heaven. As it says in Romans 3:9-12:
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one."
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one."
On my own, I am a pile of broken glass. No matter how hard I try, I continue to break things, adding more shards to the pile. I am helpless, scattered across the floor unable to hide my brokenness or clean up the mess.
There was a time in history when keeping the letter of the law was the only way to make things right. “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24).
God made the first move to clean up my mess. He sent Jesus to make things right, taking the penalty of my sin—past, present, and future—upon himself. Just because I believe in Him, doesn’t mean I still don’t break things. I do, but it doesn’t weigh me down. In Christ, I am a new creation covered in grace. He has taken all the broken pieces and put me back together. But it’s not like he just glued them back, there are a few tiny pieces missing and obvious lines where the breaks occurred. No. He has made me brand new, like a shiny, new glass that never fell off the shelf to begin with.
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