Jesus, the thrifter

every time i buy something from the thrift store [which is very often] and repurpose [or spray paint] it, i can't help but think that Jesus would have been a thrifter/repurposer. he was a carpenter, yes, but i think he would've enjoyed finding old stuff, fixing it up, painting it, and giving it new life and a new home just as much as he enjoyed creating something from scratch.

He wouldn't walk into Pottery Barn to buy the brand new, expensive sofa table. no, i think He would set out on a mission, searching from thrift store to thrift store, until He found just the piece He was looking for. and very likely, it would be the piece that no one else wanted... the worst of the worst with chipped paint. it would be falling apart, on its last leg. the dented and broken piece in the back of the store that might as well be cut up and used for scraps. something that needed lots of fixing up. but He wouldn't care. He would know how beautiful it would be once He was finished with it. He would see it as the perfect piece that it would become. He wouldn't even worry that the door was barely hanging onto its hinge, or the drawers needed guides and new pulls. He would just picture it as it would be, once His loving hands had slowly and meticulously poured life back into it. once he had pieced it back together, inch by inch, and carefully fixed every little ding and dent. He would see it as the renewed and repurposed piece that it was always destined to be. He would have the perfect spot for it too, in His home. He had been searching for this specific piece, because He had a very specific place in the house that it needed to fill. can you imagine how excited He would be, standing in that thrift store, when He found just the piece He had been looking for?

isn't that what He does with His children? doesn't He search out for the lowliest, the farthest gone, the worst of the sinners, the ones for whom everyone else has given up hope? isn't that so like our loving God, to renew and repurpose our broken and barely-hanging-on lives? beauty from ashes? to take our pain and our past, whether sin or suffering, and heal it to be used for His glory? He has the perfect spot for each of us, in His kingdom plan. He's been searching for someone just like you and just like me, sins and hurts and messiness included, to fulfill a very specific purpose in history. now that He's found you, will you allow Him to gently and slowly fill in the gaps with wood-filler, sand down the chipped paint, and give you fresh coat? will you let His love slowly-but-surely transform you into the beautiful person that He destined you to be? and then will you allow Him to place you into His plan of history, in the very spot that He arranged for you before you were even born?

as trivial as this may sound, i'm off to spray my kitchen light fixture in Oil Rubbed Bronze. and as i spray, i'll be praying that God will piece back together the broken parts of my heart, and repurpose them for His glory. i know He wants nothing more.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
repairing cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,
though they have been deserted for many generations.
Isaiah 61:4