Beautiful and Broken
"When we live out the gospel by letting Christ break down that wall of hostility in our relationships, attitudes, interactions, and assumptions, we live as the New Creation that God has called us to be, and He redeems the brokenness and displays the beauty of His grace."
Every aspect of our world exists in a tension. Since all things were created by God (Genesis 1:1), and He created all things good, then everything in this world has a mark of God and His goodness and beauty. Yet, because our forefathers Adam and Eve rejected God as their good King, our world has been plunged into sin, and the goodness and beauty of this world is often twisted, distorted, and utilized for purposes other than to glorify and honor the Creator.
The convergence of protology (the theology of creation) and hamartiology (the theology of sin) leads us to a world that is full of beauty and brokenness simultaneously.
Each of these components of life in this world are full of both beauty and brokenness.
One of the most consistent ways that this beauty and brokenness are on display in the world is in the midst of human relationships between varieties of people.
But there is also radical brokenness between people, particularly when those people are not exactly the same:
In the midst of this beauty and brokenness our Lord has made us, His Church, into a New Creation ("Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come," 2 Corinthians 5:17). Because we are people who have been reunited with God through Christ, we are called to be people whose lives and relationships represent God's reversal, an undoing of sin and its effects through the power of the gospel.
Where the world offers gossip, the Church is to offer encouragement. Where the world offers power struggles, the Church is to offer humility and selfless sacrifice. Where the world offers self-glorification, the Church is to be fixated and dedicated to the glory of the Savior.
And where the world offers division and distrust across ethnic, age, life-stage, socio-economic, cultural or national lines, the Church is called to offer reconciliation, unity, humility, sacrifice, and love.
When we allow the divisions of the world to invade local churches, we allow the brokenness of the world to flourish, and we suppress the gospel hope of being unified in Christ in the midst of differences. Paul describes the divisions of the world (in His circumstance, the division between Jew and Gentile) invading the church as a "wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14).
And when we live out the gospel by letting Christ break down that wall of hostility in our relationships, attitudes, interactions, and assumptions, we live as the New Creation that God has called us to be, and He redeems the brokenness and displays the beauty of His grace.
Every aspect of our world exists in a tension. Since all things were created by God (Genesis 1:1), and He created all things good, then everything in this world has a mark of God and His goodness and beauty. Yet, because our forefathers Adam and Eve rejected God as their good King, our world has been plunged into sin, and the goodness and beauty of this world is often twisted, distorted, and utilized for purposes other than to glorify and honor the Creator.
The convergence of protology (the theology of creation) and hamartiology (the theology of sin) leads us to a world that is full of beauty and brokenness simultaneously.
- Art
- Music
- Relationships
- Culture
- Scholarship
- Our Minds
- Love
- Creativity
- Food
Each of these components of life in this world are full of both beauty and brokenness.
One of the most consistent ways that this beauty and brokenness are on display in the world is in the midst of human relationships between varieties of people.
- There is much beauty in the variety of cultures that exist in the world
- There is beauty in human stories and experiences
- There is beauty in a new child, or an elderly couple still in love, or to see anybody, no matter who they are, laughing
But there is also radical brokenness between people, particularly when those people are not exactly the same:
- There is brokenness in divisions, factions, cliques, and exclusivity that produce animosity and distrust across cultures, life-stages, ethnicities, ages, or nationalities
- There is brokenness and pain in the human experience, abuse, neglect, rejection, and betrayal
- There is brokenness in the loss of a child, the dissolution of marital covenants, and the tears of those who've experienced the sting of sin in this world
In the midst of this beauty and brokenness our Lord has made us, His Church, into a New Creation ("Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come," 2 Corinthians 5:17). Because we are people who have been reunited with God through Christ, we are called to be people whose lives and relationships represent God's reversal, an undoing of sin and its effects through the power of the gospel.
Where the world offers gossip, the Church is to offer encouragement. Where the world offers power struggles, the Church is to offer humility and selfless sacrifice. Where the world offers self-glorification, the Church is to be fixated and dedicated to the glory of the Savior.
And where the world offers division and distrust across ethnic, age, life-stage, socio-economic, cultural or national lines, the Church is called to offer reconciliation, unity, humility, sacrifice, and love.
When we allow the divisions of the world to invade local churches, we allow the brokenness of the world to flourish, and we suppress the gospel hope of being unified in Christ in the midst of differences. Paul describes the divisions of the world (in His circumstance, the division between Jew and Gentile) invading the church as a "wall of hostility" (Ephesians 2:14).
And when we live out the gospel by letting Christ break down that wall of hostility in our relationships, attitudes, interactions, and assumptions, we live as the New Creation that God has called us to be, and He redeems the brokenness and displays the beauty of His grace.
