Today our team went to the beach, and it was so much fun! I got to do one of my favorite things, which is walk along the beach and look for shells. When I was a kid, I would pick up pretty much any shell. I would end up with tons of random shells. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten pickier with which shells I decide to keep. Now I only want the ones that are perfect or prettier than the others, ones that catch my eye. If a shell is broken or dingy or looks like every other shell then I leave it there and keep looking. I’m not the only one who does this, because one of the girls on my team picked up a shell, looked at it, and said, “Aww it’s broken. It would have been pretty though.”
I’m so glad God isn’t like that.
“When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, He told them, ‘Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” -Mark 2: 16-17
God does not look for perfect people, people that are prettier than others, people that are the most unique or the best at things. He does not keep walking when He sees a person that is broken. He does not cast someone aside because they have a blemish. In fact, God sent His Son for those people. He wants those people who are imperfect and who mess up.
So, today while I was walking and thinking of this, I decided to keep that shell that my teammate said was broken. I kept it as a reminder that even though I am broken, God picked me up and kept me. He chose me! When He looks at me, instead of seeing imperfections, He sees uniqueness and scars that came from fighting against the flesh and the enemy. I will look at that less-than-perfect shell the way I looked at shells when I was a kid; I will see beauty in the brokenness and know that that is how God sees me.
“Now this is what the Lord says — the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel — ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.’” -Isaiah 43:1
