Both Beautiful and Broken

There’s something very right about this world.

And there’s something terribly wrong.

We all sense it, every day. Laughter and tears, joy & sorrow, peace & war, birth & death.

Something within us is frustrated, every day. Whether we voice it or not, we feel it:

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

We’re right, of course. The world wasn’t supposed to be this way, it wasn’t supposed to be both beautiful and broken.

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31
“The sufferings of this present time…the creation itself…bondage to corruption.” Romans 8:18-21

The Bible simply & powerfully tells us how things started. God created. God created everything, and at the end, he concluded that it was very good. Butterfly wing and mountain range, flower stem and ocean deep, every single detail of an entire planet down to the atomic level painstakingly handcrafted by an infinite being. Perfect in every way.

But as we know, the creation did not stay that way. The perfection was broken, shattered into a billion pieces when man turned his back on God. That act brought incalculable disharmony, suffering, and death into every facet of reality. Shattered like a broken vase, the world we now live in is schizoid. There is still beauty & joy everywhere, but there is also sadness & death.

So, how do we live in such a world both beautiful & broken? First, we must enjoy the beauty as a blessing. God could have removed all traces of His beauty after the Fall, but He chose not to. He continues to bless us every day with the beauty of the world and the simple joys of living. There is abundant beauty in this life if we are willing to see it. God meant for us to take joy from this life, as long as we see it as a reflection of His love towards us.

Second, we must bear the brokenness of this world through God’s grace. Life can be hard, very hard, in this fallen world. But God has not left us alone; He has given a Comforter to His children in the Spirit, Who lives to communicate God’s love & grace to all of us in our time of need. He is always there to soothe every wound this broken world inflicts upon us.

Third, we must look forward to the restoration of all things. This world will not always be broken. One day it will be restored again to glorious perfection, and every tear will be wiped away, and death & sadness will be no more. Until that final day, we can now set ourselves to being faithful to bring God’s love into this world today, bringing beauty and healing brokenness.

That is what we can do, each day. Rejoice in God’s beauty, seek God in the brokenness, and work toward the restoration until the day we will all be home.

You might also enjoy these articles:

1. When God Plows, We Must Sow
2. The Reality of Christ
3. Anduril
4. Beauty & Waste
5. What Masterpiece Are You Creating Today?