With that being said, I think it is so very important that we love one another. Love one another despite our individual brokenness. This life we are in is not a contest, although many of us often live it like it is one. We are not in competition with each other, it's not about who is the most holy, who is the most beautiful, who is the most successful. It's about how we love one another, or how we don't.
I have seen firsthand how God can take the broken and make it into something beautiful. A new church is forming here in my area, and the name of the church is Mosaic and their motto is "brokenness made beautiful". I really love that, it resonates with me, resonates somewhere deep down, in all the broken places.
It's an awesome thing when God brings together the broken and molds them into something beautiful. I have seen Him do it on more than one occasion. Sometimes it is via a church, sometimes it is just a group of people working together, and sometimes it's via social media like a Facebook page or group, or a social movement. Broken people coming together, mending into a beautiful mosaic.
Sadly I have also seen these beautiful things shaken up by the broken. When we cling to things as if they belong to us, when we take hold of the good and call it our own and seek to possess it and control it, and take credit for it. All the good that comes from the broken being mended together is God's good. It's His work, not ours. When we seek to possess and claim that which is God's we end up hurting others. Pieces of the mosaic rejected by other pieces of the mosaic, pieces pushed away, pieces ignored and forgotten. In our own strength we often mess up the masterpiece. Thankfully God is ever present and takes even our messed up ways and turns them to good.
Be the piece of the mosaic that God has called you to be. Be joyful as He takes the various pieces and forms then into a beautiful picture of grace and love. Don't try and fit in pieces yourself, nor remove pieces that you think do not belong, nor limit the placement of the pieces. That is God's part of the work, yours is to shine where He placed you.
Remember that in every mosaic one thing is the same always. Each piece is broken, each piece has it's own distinct qualities. Alone they are not much to speak of, but placed together, in the configuration of God's choosing they become a masterpiece of color and vibrancy. Love every piece, love it like a brother or a sister. Recognize that we are all broken, but God loves us in our brokenness and in Him and Him alone we find wholeness and rest. Be still in His hands and allow Him to form the beauty.
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. "
"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."
"If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."
"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. "
"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ... "
"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."
Brokenness made beautiful............ I really like that. (Thank you Mosaic Church! Love that concept!)
Brokenness made whole.
The wholeness comes as we learn to love Him and as we love one another.
"“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
― Vance Havner
“Brokenness to redemption, where mercy and grace kiss both sides of our face.
Brokenness where we are split open.
Redemption where God knits us back together.
Mercy when we don't get the punishment we do deserve.
Grace when we get the lavish love gifts we don't deserve.
So here we are.”
― Lysa TerKeurst