Broken Pieces

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8, NIV).

Sun, sand, shells, saltwater. 

Every year when I go to the beach I spend some time walking along the sands, searching for seashells. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I spent a week at the beach back in December. Due to recent hurricanes in October, lots of things had shifted along the beach. As a result, hunting for shells looked a little different. 

During a walk one afternoon, I started to get slightly disappointed because I hadn’t found anything beautiful. Shortly after, I came across a shell that I thought would fit the bill. After picking it up, I realized it was broken. I tossed it back down, and kept walking. 

A short distance up the beach, the same thing happened. Except this time, I didn’t toss the broken shell back to the ground. Instead, I turned around and walked back to where I had been looking previously to recover the initial shell I decided “wasn’t good enough.” 

As I laid the shells in the sand, side by side, I was struck by the reminder that Jesus would never pick up a broken piece, and toss it to the side. Instead, as Luke 19:10 tells us, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

When I think back to that moment on the beach, and I pair that with remembering this verse, I am challenged to think about how I respond to broken, sinful humans. Do I treat them the same way I did the seashells on the beach that day, tossing them aside and moving on?

How would I want someone to respond to me in my own brokenness? I think I’d want them to be much more like Jesus, and a whole lot less like me. 

May we all be intentional today, and everyday, to pause and think about the popular saying, What would Jesus do?. If we answer that question honestly, I am certain our response would look a whole lot different. 

The next time I find myself walking along the beach, though it would be impossible to pick up all the broken shells, may I remind myself that God sent his only son, Jesus, to gather all of the broken pieces and help bring us to restoration. 

His death on the cross served as a ransom for all sins for all time. And because of that, even though we are broken pieces just like those seashells, we can be restored to new life. 

Romans 5:8 says: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We are broken, but Jesus came to save us, and that’s the best news of all.