Chosen Grace

Hi Friends! I pray this blog post encourages you!

I have a question for you. Have you ever driven on a road that was all cracked up and full of lumps, bumps, and potholes? Or, have you ever saw a banana that was all bruised up and ugly?

If you’re like me- you often look at the lumpy road and bruised banana and think “There is absolutely no way that this fruit is edible or this road is safe for driving”. To be honest, if my banana has too many dark spots it’s going in the trash.

I asked you all these questions because- while it may sound crazy- in the Kingdom of God we are all cracked up roads full of potholes and bruised, seemingly inedible fruit.

To paint this picture fully, let’s check out the verse below:

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (NIV)

Isaiah 42:3a

In the verse above, the Prophet Isaiah is testifying about the coming messiah (Jesus). He proclaims that the messiah will not break a “bruised reed”.

Now, I don’t know a thing about farming. But when I began to look up photos of reeds, I was pleased with what I saw. A healthy reed grows tall and strong, standing upright. It has not flaws and a the farmer is eager to use it for whatever purpose he has intended.

But a bruised reed is different. A bruised reed is cracked at the stem. This injury at the stem causes them to become bent, and not standing tall as they should be. Internally, it is broken and if the farmer was to see it, he would naturally pluck it up, killing it, and go on the next plant.

And I’m here to tell you that in God’s kingdom, we are the bruised reed.

You see, in God’s Kingdom, we are plants. We have been rooted and planted in God’s garden. As His plants, He gives us Living Water (John 4), allows the “Son” to shine on us and grow us. He prunes us to make us bloom more. (John 15).

As the bruised reed, however, God does not pluck us up like a natural farmer would. Instead, He sees us in our natural state and decides to come along side us- advocating for us to be our best selves.

This is because God knows that we are human beings operating in a fallen world. Ever since The Fall (Genesis 3), our human nature has been towards those things that oppose God.

However, we were redeemed once we chose Christ and have been buried and risen with Him (Romans 6:4). The old, sinful nature has been washed away. The new, Christ-filled version of ourselves now lives.

BUT- we are not perfect. Although we have been raised with Christ and saved by grace- we still live in a human world…filled with temptation, sin, and evil. Because of this, we often fall short of the glory of God. This is what makes us the bruised reed.

To be honest with you all, when God first began to lay this truth on my heart I was SHOCKED! As I disclosed in the last blog post, I struggled (and sometimes I still do) with a perfection complex. This simply means that I knew I was saved, but I thought God wanted me to pursue perfection in order to keep my salvation.

Even though I grew up in church and heard “saved by grace”, I still struggled with the fact that God could and actually does love me on His own will- mistakes and all.

So, the fact that Isaiah painted me as a bruised reed shocked me, but later blessed me. Here is why:

“In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;”

– Isaiah 42:3b

God began to show me that yes, Malaysia you are indeed broken, but you are not alone. The same Messiah that came over 2,000 year ago is the same Messiah I let into my heart when I was 10.He’s the same Messiah who began talking with me at 16. And He’s the same Messiah that is with me now as I type these words to you all.

All of a sudden this question popped into my mind: If Jesus is truly my Savior, why would he let me stay bent and bruised.

And the answer to this is: He won’t.

As I began to look back over my life, God began to show me that He has always been with me- healing me at times when I did not recognize I needed Him. God was showing me that He is faithful to me, even when I’m not faithful to Him (2 Tim 2:13) He is working in me- and won’t stop until we meet face to face one day.

As His bruised reed, Jesus has lifted me and straightened me. Jesus has truly inspected my heart and soul and healed (and is still healing) those broken parts of me that I thought were once irredeemable.

Many of you reading this may feel like I once did: confused, sad, and hopeless about falling short and not having it all together. You may feel that what you have thought, done, or seen is too messed up to give to God.

But, I want to encourage you all that none of that is true. I am a living testament that when you give God your mess, He’ll give you beauty (Isaiah 61:3) God is right there, waiting to lift you up in faithfulness, love, and justice.

All you gotta do is run to Him.

As I end this blog post, I encourage you all the read the entirety of Isaiah 42! It’s powerful and paints a beautiful photo of Jesus.

Also, embrace being the bruised reed. I mean, if we weren’t bruised- we wouldn’t need to be healed properly by God. And only He can heal us.

With love and embracing being a bruised reed,

Malaysia