Hello my name is Jon Kim and I am the high school pastor at the Grace Chapel Lexington Campus. But actually, before I was a high school pastor, at my previous church I was a children’s pastor. Often times in our children’s ministries we would use a lot of visual aids and magic tricks to help us understand the stories of God, so I want to do that for us today for our devotional. I was actually inspired by Tom who has been posting a lot on his Facebook of magic tricks that he had been doing with his family. So today for our devotional I wanted to talk about brokenness. And brokenness is represented by this paper towel. But obviously this is not broken yet. This is still whole. I wonder if there are some of us here that are feeling broken during this time. Whether it’s because of something that is happening physically in you or family members. Maybe it’s because of emotional stress because of work or school. Maybe it’s because of spiritual stress because we feel inadequate in our relationship with God. “Because we are not reading our Bible enough or praying enough.” So we feel this stress and feel broken. So this thing that was once whole is now broken. Things start to feel out of control and feels like its ripping apart. This is what happens inside us often times when we are broken. This tearing is often times the state of our hearts. So today I want to share with us a character from the Bible. The apostle Paul was one of the most broken characters in Scripture because he actually persecuted Christians. This is what he says in 1 Timothy 1:13

 

13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy…

 

So Paul is reflecting on himself. Someone who feels really broken inside. Because of things in his past and things he had done wrong in his life. But although he was the most broken of sinners, Jesus Christ showed him an abundance of grace! What happens is that Jesus, God, the one who shows grace and mercy, the God who shows mercy to not those who are good but to those who are broken, shows grace and mercy to Paul. So what we see is that what once was broken, begins to restore. So we want to see this restoration process. Where things begin to feel restored. So this is what we see here. We see this thing that was once broken and torn apart, become whole and new again. This is what happens in Paul’s life and our lives. Jesus takes things that are broken and restores it. He is in the business of restoration. So if you are feeling like ripped pieces. Not whole and not complete. I encourage you to read Scripture, pray and reflect on the grace and mercy of God. Who restores broken things.