BROKEN BUT NEEDED

TEXT: Mark 14: 3-5

^{3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.(NKJV)}

Growing up, I remember a day I was playing with my elder sister in our bedroom. My sister had just returned from the boarding school for the summer holiday, and oh, what joy it was for me to have her around for over two months. In this excitement, we played, and I found myself doing a backflip. That backflip shattered the mirror in our room. Before I could say Jack, my mother turned and almost grasped me. I ran for my dear life because I couldn’t imagine what the spanking would be like, especially having a teacher as a mother in a typical Nigerian home. Trust me, I was outside for a while, and I think my father helped save the day. My mother was livid because she would be spending more money buying a new mirror; the broken one was not useful anymore and discarded. I was not the only one breaking mirrors in my family. My kid brother did the same thing in my eldest sister’s house, but in his case, he hid the mirror, and I found myself coming back from the market, tired and oblivious of the incident; I had my hand slashed by the mirror that I needed the wound stitched.

Isn’t it a wonder that it is different when it concerns God? He specializes in using the broken pieces and making for Himself a masterpiece. All He requires of us is to be malleable in His hands because when it comes to the potter and the clay, there is no resistance from the clay; it just stays put in the hands of the potter for remolding and reshaping. We often fight with the potter rather than releasing ourselves for ease. Permit me to say that hiding yourself or what God has placed inside of you can also be detrimental in the long run.

The woman with the alabaster box released her oil; she did not look at the value, but she looked at the one who deserved her broken alabaster box and her costly oil of spikenard even when some were indignant. This story is true for some of us; how often do we have something so dear to us that we hold on tightly to it? The intriguing thing is that the fragrance of that spikenard was only perceived when the bottle was broken. It also drew the attention of men. There is something God has placed in your care that will draw the attention of men, but there needs to be the willingness to pour out, the desire to be broken for God to use you.

John 12:24 NLT says, “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels- a plentiful harvest of new lives”.

The fruitfulness we seek is in our obedience to yield, abide, and be dead to self and anything that exalts itself against the name of Christ. You see, a dead man has no control over what happens to his body; he only lays down and is being carried or utilized as deemed fit by the carrier. God desires to take us the same way and do as He desires with us, having the assurance that when He is done, there is the glory that goes to Him as we receive our well done. In the same way, this grain of wheat produces more fruit because of the willingness to die.

We must come to the point where we realize that we are to make disciples of all nations. This cannot be possible when we are unwilling to reproduce. The harvest of new lives is the ones whom the word of God has transformed through you. When I took a second look at the words in John 12:24, I realized that the wheat itself requires the right environment to flourish. The question is, what kind of environment do you find yourself in? A temperate or torrid environment? One is soothing, and the other is crude. Your environment determines a great deal of your harvest.

Lastly, for anyone still wondering why God chooses to use broken people, He is a God who can leave the ninety-nine to chase after one. He used a murderer and a hot-tempered man like Moses; he can use you. He used a fearful and timid man like Gideon; he can use you. He showed up for the adulteress woman. John 8, He can show up for you. Again, introspectively reflect on these questions.

• What does “broken” mean to you in a personal context?

• Can you recall a time when you felt completely broken?

• In what ways have you felt like you were needed, even when you were struggling?

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, thank you for every moment you look past the reflections of whom we see and still show us the more in us. Help us to work in this consciousness in Jesus’ name, Amen.