Trash to Treasure

Who doesn’t love a good bargain? Isn’t it the best feeling to discover some cheap, discarded trash and repurpose it into something of value? Just browse Pinterest and you’ll see it’s filled with projects of that nature. God has had a similar interest for much longer than Pinterest has been around. He is really into redemption, and turning what appears to be trash into priceless treasure. I should know.

I’m always baffled by the idea of God’s redemption. Who other than God can take something broken and beyond repair and make it into something new? Not just repaired, repurposed, or refinished, but a new creation. (“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Cor 5:17) 

I look back at my life and recall some of the messes I’ve made of myself. There are points in my life that I hate to even remember. I feel shame to recall the person that I’ve been. I’ve been selfish, stubborn, and downright cruel at times. I have sacrificed my self-respect in a desperate search for love and acceptance. I have allowed others to use me and humiliate me because I didn’t believe I was worth more. I have been so afraid of being alone, that I completely sacrificed who I was. There have been plenty of low times which I don’t love to recall, and that I wish I could fast-forward through when the memories surface. The craziest thing to me, is that God loved me more than ever during those times. He saw through the mask I portrayed to others, and saw past the ugly things I did, and instead felt compassion for my brokenness. He didn’t just overlook those times in my life and pretend they never happened, he redeemed them. (“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…” Joel 2:25) He takes those worst, most hideous moments and makes something beautiful from them. He allows those things I want to forget to become a part of his beautiful masterpiece. He takes those ugly parts of me and uses them to be a testimony of his glory. It’s all about focus and perspective; I can choose to focus on the less than pleasant details, or I can take a step back and see how God has woven those details into the bigger picture of his plan for me.

There’s often the initial struggle of accepting God’s grace and mercy, and receiving his forgiveness. So many times I don’t feel worthy; well, I’m simply not worthy. But, God loves me enough to offer it anyway. He doesn’t love me in spite of my brokenness, I believe he loves me even more because of it. He sees that I’m desperately lost, and he offers me everything I need. Even after that initial struggle has passed, and I've received his forgiveness and I've thought I've moved on, I still tend to encounter the struggle of shame when it comes time to face my past. God redeems what I have squandered, but I have to allow God to have it. I must be willing to uncover it and stop trying to hide it in order for God to work with it. My prayer is that I will have the courage to let my imperfect past known, so that I might be an example of God’s glory and splendor. It is through my brokenness that God is exalted and honored. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:7)