Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – October 2, 2020
By Guest Writer: Jill Hooper
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21, NJKV
Figuratively, a broken halo reminds me of my broken, sinful condition. But Jesus! But Jesus, wore a painful crown of thrones representing my sin, to forgive me of my sin. He makes me the righteousness of God in Him, when I place my faith and total trust in Jesus Christ to save me.
Do you have a broken halo like me? Has the circle been severed by your own means or someone else’s? Have you tried desperately to repair it, cover it up, or just ignore it? Do you strive in life so that others won’t see your broken halo? Do you sometimes even want to hide the uneven, incomplete circle from God? For years I focused on my broken halo. I felt terrible about it. I condemned myself for it and beat myself up because of it. I hated the damage I did to myself, but much more than that, I hated the hurt and pain I caused others. But you know what? The more I focused on my broken halo, the more it broke.
Somewhere, in a place inside of me, I thought that’s what I deserved. It was almost like I was so mad at myself for breaking my halo (or letting it break) that I decided to just throw it on the floor and stomp on it. Not real smart, huh? As I sloughed through this process and became more of a wreck, God intervened. He was there all the time, for sure, but at a certain point He brought circumstances and situations and people into my life to show me that HE LOVES BROKEN HALOS.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, NJKV).
Broken halos mean we are not perfect and we don’t have it all together. Brokenness means we are human and we can’t live this life on our own. Broken halos—broken lives—mean we need help. We don’t wear crowns, only Jesus does. And the beauty of Jesus is that He traded His crown and exchanged it for a crown of thorns. He put on the very, very worst of halos so that we could be free of trying to keep a halo at all. And now our thorn-wearer—Jesus Christ—is wearing a crown again. So every day when we wake up we can look at our broken halo on the shelf and decide we don’t need that thing at all. We willingly admit we are broken, needy, self-focused, fearful, hurt, tired, angry, self-seeking and have the propensity to do horrendous things.
We take our shame to the cross thanking our Savior for taking it. We thank Him for giving us His righteousness, His goodness, His love and compassion and ask Him to lead us to walk in Him. But there WAS a purpose in our broken halo. It led us to a deeper place with God. So now we do not regret that torn up circle, nor do we try to hide it. We can thank God for brokenness and for helping us lose everything so that we could find Him in a new way. He uses EVERYTHING for our good and His glory. Nothing is wasted. Even years that nothing good seemed to be happening, He restores! He never condemns, but brings hope. We are made NEW in Him. WOW.
“We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4, NKJV).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I celebrate Christ dying for me that I might live for Him, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Application
What shame do I need to forgive myself of so I can enjoy Christ’s love, acceptance and forgiveness of me?
Related Reading
Genesis 3:17-18; Proverbs 22:5; Matthew 7:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10
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We take our shame to the cross thanking our Savior Jesus Christ for taking it. #wisdomhunters #broken #truth #Jesus
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