Broken, Bold, and Beautiful

“If I don’t have gratitude for what came, I won’t have the faith for what is coming.” – Bishop Courtney McBath

God takes what appears to be broken and burnt out and uses it for His glory.

Throughout scripture we see people who have seemingly messed up, but God takes this pieces and uses them for His glory:

• Noah got tired.
• Joseph gave up.
• Esther was scared.
• Jesus picked Judas!
• Jesus got angry and died! Yet it was in His death that the resurrection came and our path to righteousness with God.

The Broken Stones

Nehemiah 4:1-2 (NIV) – When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble —burned as they are?”

When Nehemiah goes to repair the wall, he finds broken and burnt bricks.  But what’s interesting is that Nehemiah only asked for the bracing of wood from King Artaxerxes.  Nehemiah would use the wood to brace the wall, but he was still going to use the bricks, because he knew that a brick that had been burnt still had value.

There are places in our lives that God is simple sanctifying, not throwing them away.  We are the living stones that He needs.  He just needs us to say yes to Him so that He can brace us in the wood called the Cross and put us in the place we need to be.

The Broken Box

Luke 7:37-39 (NIV) – A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

The alabaster box had value because it was made of alabaster, yet it held extreme value, because inside was perfume of immense value.  What’s interesting though is that it had to be broken in order to release what is inside.

“You don’t know the value of the box until you break it.” – Bishop Courtney McBath

The same with us there has to be some brokenness in our lives in order to see the value.

The Broken Woman

This woman with the alabaster box found three things when she wept and anointed Jesus’ feet:

– She Found Her Place at His Feet

God needs people who find themselves at the feet of Jesus.  All the issues, problems, haters, life and rejection should all push you to the feet of Jesus.

“Don’t make it so that God has to use life to push you to the feet of Jesus.  Go voluntarily.” – Bishop Courtney McBath

– She Found Favor at His Feet

Favor is not given to boast or show off, it is given to honor God.

– She Found Her Future at His Feet

The direction of this woman’s life changes after her encounter with Jesus.

“Out of brokenness comes beauty.” – Bishop Courtney McBath