love > brokenness

Brokenness. A word that has been on my heart. With everything that's been happening in the world, my heart breaks, and I'm just overwhelmed. It wasn’t supposed to be this way...

GOLD - In Genesis 1, God designed the world to be in perfect relationship with Him and in perfect relationship with each other. Nothing but love. God made us so we can appreciate His splendor and majesty. He made humans in HIS image. That means EVERY PERSON bears the image of God... take that in. Each person is valuable in God’s eyes. God made each person with His love and care... and they deserve to be treated that way.

BLACK - "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23). In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve opposed God by sinning, breaking their relationship with Him. It resulted in humans no longer being under God’s rule and therefore no longer able to experience His blessings. The result is death. chaos. brokenness. greed. suffering. oppression. racism. disease. injustice. slavery. inequality. poverty. addictions. violence... it’s everywhere, it’s all around us. A result of our sin.

This past year, God has been teaching me to view the world from the lens of the Gospel. A course I’m currently taking called 'International Development through Sport' teaches us how to analyze these issues and try to create sport for development programs that would help alleviate the cycle of poverty and oppression in communities. But in reality, when seeing these issues from the eyes of the Gospel, there’s really nothing we can do to solve this brokenness. We’re just a bunch of broken people trying to fix the brokenness that we caused. It really is a hopeless situation if left to our own devices.

RED - "… but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus. Although God didn’t have to save us and could’ve left us in our broken condition, He gave us Jesus, His only Son, to solve once and for all this human problem of depravity and restore us back to beauty. Jesus took on all our sins, placed them upon himself, and took the punishment that we were supposed to receive. Because He is 100% God and 100% man, He was the only one qualified to die and save us from our sins. Jesus was crucified, died, and came back to life in 3 days. He defeated death. This is mercy. That we are spared from death and offered eternal life instead. This is grace. That we receive a gift that we do not deserve. This is love.

WHITE - If we believe this Good News, our sins are cleansed away when we repent. Erased. Our broken human condition is restored to beauty once again through Jesus. Our sin is washed by His blood and now we are white as snow. In Jesus, we have life. Although Jesus has ascended into Heaven forty days after He resurrected, the Holy Spirit now dwells in us.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son" John 3:16-18.

GOLD - Jesus promises eternal life with Him if we recognize the magnitude of our sin and believe that He alone can save and restore us. He promises that He will come back again to form a New Heaven and a New Earth; He will make all things new (Revelation 21). Imagine a life with no death. no chaos. no brokenness. no greed. no suffering. no oppression. no racism. no disease. no injustice. no slavery. no inequality. no poverty. no addictions. no violence.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4

This is what Jesus promises we will have in Heaven... and He promises even more than we could imagine. In Jesus, no more suffering and depravity can be present. In Jesus, there is only love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

But while we wait for that day, we are commanded to love others as Jesus has loved us. We are to love everyone, including society's marginalized, as Jesus has loved them. We serve others, as Jesus came to serve and not to be served (Mark 10:45). May we advocate for the oppressed. Those living in poverty, those who are homeless, those discriminated for their colour, those struggling with mental health, those who are abused, those living in war-torn countries, those who are exploited, those with land taken away from them, those who have no access to education or clean water. The list goes on. Every person is loved by God and is made in God's image. In Jesus, we are all children of God and we all deserve to be treated that way. No exceptions. Let us speak up against injustice. Let us make our voices heard. But let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Let us move into ACTION.

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." 1 John 2:16-18

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Brokenness. My heart breaks. Injustice is so prevalent. We yearn for something better than the sufferings in our current world. But let us not lose hope and may we cling on to the Hope of the Gospel. A Hope that is unswerving, because He who promised is faithful. God will fulfill His promises. Although it might not look like it right now, the battle against evil has already been won. Take heart, we have victory in Jesus! Amen.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:19-25