The word “broken” seems to be a uniquely 20th Century word. There are broken homes, broken promises, broken laws, broken lives. Our modern society seems to breed people who are good at breaking things. And as a result, our modern society is made up of many broken people.
It is the Christian world view that brings hope and repair to the brokenness of our society. Thalasius, a Christian monk founded the first asylum for the blind; Apollonius, a Christian merchant, set up the first free dispensary. And the first hospital on record was founded by Fabiola, a Christian lady.
These Christian people got their mending model from Jesus himself. In a fragmented world he went about restoring brokenness. To weak and ill he brought healing and wholeness; to the despised and rejected he bought respect and compassion; to the desperate he bought hope and salvation. And yet his greatest ‘act of repair’ was for all of us and was achieved in his death and resurrection. It is because of this he offers us all the restoration of our relationship with God.
What sort of brokenness are you living with? Sometimes we can feel a bit like Humpty Dumpty and we might wonder how our lives could ever be put back together again. The good news is that in Jesus there is hope. By the power of the Spirit and in obedience to the word of God the repair work in our lives can begin.
However, whilst the bible does not promise the full restoration of all our brokenness in this life it does promise life in all perfection in eternity. The restoration of our relationship with God is won for us by Jesus and it will give us an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade, kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:3-9).
It is worth our while asking ourselves two questions:
- Have I accepted Jesus’ offer of repair to my relationship with God?
- When did I last tell someone else how Jesus can repair the brokenness in the world?