JUNE 24, 2014
Veins
Of Gold
Read: Romans
6:1-14
If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly
we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. —Romans 6:5
While visiting the
charming Cotswold area of England, I purchased some bone china mugs as
souvenirs. I used them carefully, but eventually one fell into the sink and
shattered. I thought about that mug recently when I learned about the Japanese
art of Kintsugi.
Usually when something
breaks we are happy to repair it enough to make it functional again. But
several hundred years ago, a Japanese artist decided he would make broken china
beautiful. So he started using golden resin to hold the fragments together.
Pieces repaired by using his method have intricate veins of gold.
Early in the human
story, sin entered the world (Gen. 3). Theologians refer to the event as “the
fall.” The inevitable result is brokenness. Life is painful because we keep
getting hurt and hurting others with our sharp, jagged edges. But God doesn’t
want us to stay broken, and His repair work turns our brokenness into beauty.
Like a Kintsugi
artist, God repairs us. But He uses something more precious than gold—the blood
of His Son. Instead of having veins of gold, we are united by the very veins of
Christ. “We have been united together in the likeness of His death” (Rom. 6:5).
Nothing is more beautiful than that.
He shed His blood,
poured out His life;
He gave His all at
Calvary;
Oh what can we give in
return
For love so rich, so
full, so free? —Anon.
The price of our
freedom from sin was paid by Jesus’ blood.
Insight
In verse 1, the
apostle Paul reminds us of the danger of presuming on the grace of God. It is
possible that there were those in the church at Rome who were advocating an
immoral lifestyle, believing that God overlooked such things because that is
how grace operated. Such a view, however, fails to balance the grace of God
with His holiness and can lead to lives that dishonor Him.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
