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God Can Use Your Broken Pieces
God doesn’t hide our broken pieces, he utilizes them.
ruth 4.12
and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.
i finished teaching through the book of Ruth last week and this verse was in the passage. i can’t help but be struck by the beauty + humor in the way the Bible views things vs. how we often do.
in Ruth 4, the elders of the community are blessing Ruth + Boaz on their upcoming marriage and choose to reference a story from Genesis 38, to recap
Judah had a son who married Tamar - He Died.
According to Jewish Law (Deuteronomy 25.5-9), Judah’s next son had a responsibility to impregnate Tamar to keep the family line going - He refused, God Killed Him.
Judah’s third son was too young, but eventually when he was old enough to fulfill this duty, he was withheld from Tamar.
as a widow + non-virgin, she had limited value in her society. so she took matters into her own hands, she dressed up like a prostitute (haven’t seen many Tamar’s this halloween) and allowed Judah her father in law to impregnate her. (just imagine the confusion + trauma associated with everything you just read).
that pregnancy resulted in a son Perez. and he is in the DIRECT line of Jesus. just like Boaz + Ruth eventually ethnically mixed son Obed. and all kinds of other people whose lives are filled with broken pieces. now read the verse again …
ruth 4.12
and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.
that sounds almost aspirational. rather than hide or fold down the confusing or broken or difficult things in the background of their family history, the family line that produced david + Jesus Christ was able to point to a man who came out of something dark as something a new difficult family situation could aspire.
what if the divorce or abuse or special needs or failed business or broken dream isn’t something you are supposed to get over and learn from, but something thats very presence is the foundation of your ability to BE the good news to others?
My most prized possessions are my wedding rings. But, the last few weeks my skin has been irritated right underneath them so I keep rotating wearing one or none of them. This week I had them placed on a dresser in my room, probably not my smartest decision but a convenient one. I went about my day and in the morning I woke up to find them vanished! I flipped the room upside down. Cushions off the chair, digging through the dresser, moving furniture and of course searching all the places they may have rolled… to no avail. My heart sunk but rather than allow my face to tell Luke the situation I decided to lay my cards on the table and come to him with the straight truth. ‘Babe, I lost my rings.’ I then proceeded to fall into a puddle of tears. Not a minute later, our four-year-old daughter (who has a fascination with my rings and getting married) comes on to the scene. I ask her if she knows where my rings are and her immediate answer is, ‘no!’ Then after a change of heart completely on her own she said, “Mommy, come here!’ She proceeded to walk in my room, open my night stand to unveil the missing rings placed right where she had put them!
My agony over my most prized possession turned into sheer shock and joy! They might not look like much to some people but to me they represent our love story, our commitment to each other, and they remind me of the man that sacrificed much to get them for me. Have you ever had a moment like that, where you lost something of great treasure to you? Something that you couldn’t go to Target to replace. I wonder, if you were telling me that story over coffee, how you would describe your reaction? Were you ever able to find it?
The Bible tells a parable about the lost coin. Luke 15:8-10 says, “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
A few thousand years ago this story would have been told to anyone who would listen including Pharisees who were really good at religious behavior that kept score of what those around them were and weren’t doing. They were more focused on their perceived scorecard than their own heart. This parable clearly states that God loves each and every person he made. He wants each and every one of them to come into personal relationship with him. And that moment that someone has the ‘a-ha’ moment of their need for him, he delights in them.
If you read through the passage again to look for the only emotion mentioned, you will find joy and rejoicing! God takes great joy in sinners who repent, who realize their need for his mercy and his power to save! I believe that’s those who are acknowledging their sinful nature for the first time or millionth time. I wonder what that looks like for you. Have you ever acknowledged that you are a sinner in need of a savior? Is there an area of your life that you need to repent for today? Is there a secret sin or something that you’ve justified for a while? I believe that the joy that God wants to rush toward you is elaborate! He will rejoice over and delight in you his child. May you remember his lavish love for you, that even when you were lost he made a way for you so that you could be found in Him.
Cup of Leadership
an appeal to an unexpressed intent is usually a bad excuse.
i.e. you don't 'credit' for things you wanted to say.
i.e. you didn’t encourage anyone by thinking they did a good job.
i.e. you didn’t comfort by compassionate thoughts you never shared.
i.e. wanting to help but not ‘knowing how’ didn’t do anything.
we often offer ourselves comfort in our passivity by self-assurance of good intentions. this however is literally nothing. hoping someone who is depressed figures it out + hoping they jump off a bridge FEEL the same to the person who is being wounded by the silence.
serving others requires action. which inevitably produces mis-understanding. that can be difficult to handle, but so is the effects of becoming a person who hides in their passivity.
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Super Christian Guy
Monday Morning Book Review
i’m mid stream on about 11 different books … read this poem this week and it stopped me in my tracks .. i think this segment will encourage / challenge you
if
rudyard kipling
1943
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Things to Click On
at soon-to-be 36, i’m having the experience of leading people a generation younger than me for the first time … this article is mellow-dramatic + over-stated, but had something useful concepts in it
cool new song from UNITED .. love the vibe
have a great weekend …
luke + kristen