Kintsugi

What?

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing a broken piece of pottery using gold, platinum, or silver mixed with lacquer. I learned about it on the Internet.

Rather than throw away a treasured and precious possession, something that has a history and is valued, the Japanese, if they have the money and status, make a virtue out of a disaster. They have the broken pottery repaired. The result is that the pottery has a marble-like look with lines of gold or silver running through the design and making it not only functional again as an object but also valuable.

It struck me that this is what Jesus does with our lives here on earth.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV)

For those of us still in the process of being healed, whilst we await our final redemption and our bodies to be made whole — maybe only in heaven — He picks up our broken and worn beings and puts us together again, because each one of us is treasured as we submit to Him. He does not erase our past but rather sanctifies it as we put it into His hands or lay it at His feet.

Of course, we are made totally new in our spirits with the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives, but for most of us, for the time being, we are undergoing a process of "then" and "now". We are being made new, having been transformed by life in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (ESV)

If you will, Jesus is the gold that holds our new lives together and makes a virtue of our broken lives. They are not to be discarded on earth, but rather to be treasured, valued, and held in honour because He first loved us. That value and honour becomes a part of who we now are.

So today, let us become vessels again for Jesus, as He holds us together. From the outside, let us allow others to see Him in the cracks, until we become owners of a body made entirely new!

Prayer: Father, it is a mystery how we are being transformed, and yet, we are still here on earth carrying on carrying on, seeing only dimly. As Your vessels, please fill us with Your light, joy, peace, hope, and intercessions. We ask You to hold us together again today to become useful for Your kingdom, in Your hands. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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