Cracked……but brand new.
Whole……but broken.
Perfect.  Beautiful.  Untouched.  New. BUT ALSO…….Chipped, Flawed, and Damaged. 
Imagine a day, many years ago.  I think the year was 1975 (or so), but the year only matters in seeing that I was a 8 or 9 year-old child and my brother was two years younger.
Dad and mom had purchased a box of beautiful bone-white china, dishes that are etched in gold, mom’s first china dishes.
Mom had hoped to own these dishes, this exquisite china for years.
Now, See that small boy and small girl standing near the dining room table.  
See the top of the table covered with brown boxes, full of delicate china with each piece wrapped to protect it from cracking.
And, Then See dad.  See mom.  They are standing there too, beside the table, lifting out the china, piece by piece.
That was me.  That was my brother on the day……a day way back when I was a child.  Inseparable playmates.  Always together. Fast Friends described my brother and me, so it was not uncommon for us to come running into the room at the same time.
“We want to help.  Please, mom,” we voiced as dad carried in and set another box of brand new china on the dining room table.
“Only if you are careful,” mom replied, as I am already pulling back the flap lid of the box to peer inside the box.
“We will be careful. We want to help,” I exclaimed, speaking words for both my brother and me, words that were proven so untrue in matter of minutes.
Mom should have said, “No,” but she did not.
Mom may have regretted her decision that day, but mom is not one to hold a grudge, even when her brand new dishes suddenly become chipped, on the first day out of the box.
Our assistance was reminded to us for so many years after That Day.  For years, every time I set the table for a “fancy occasion meal,” so often I saw that broken and glued plate there among the others.
 Perfect.  Beautiful.  Untouched. Exquisite.
BUT ALSO……
Flawed.   Damaged.  Broken.
How does God look at us?
How does He see us whenever we run up and exclaim, ” Daddy, I want to help.”
Does God see us as able?  As competent?  As Skilled.  As Unflawed Vessels?
OR
Does God see us as we are…..broken vessels, flawed and chipped by the carelessness of others’ and flawed by the actions we have lived for years, by the rash actions we have taken as we have matured?

That day, way back when, my brother and I were not as much help to mom as we hoped.  In fact, I think we caused mom some tears that day…tears because of the discipline given to us once my brother and I grabbed (in our haste to help) for the same, large dinner plate, suddenly dropping the edge of the plate against the side of the dining room table.
4 Hands holding onto a fragile plate.
4 Hands lifting from the box a fragile china dinner plate. 
4 Hands reaching into the box and 4 Hands bring down that same plate, clanking the edge of that fragile plate onto the hard, durable service of a dinner table.

If ever two items do not go together, then surely, it is the found in the opposite words—
Fragile & Clanking
Strong & Weak.
Clanking & Gently Placing.
When contemplating those categories, would we ever see both opposite words stamped on the outside of an exquisite box of brand new china?
Probably Not….Ever.
That’s exactly what occurred that day way back when my younger brother and I “helped” mom unpack her beautifully delicate, flawless china.  The funny thing…..mom glued that chipped piece back onto the plate, making it a useful vessel for her complete set of china dinnerware.   Thus, as the years passed by, and every time I set the table for a special occasion, I have been continually reminded of two things:
Even broken, still the plate was usable.
Even chipped, still the plate was valued to the one who owned the plate.

We are reminded of this message in the Bible, reminded of who God is & how He loves us.
In the Bible, we see God and we see our worth to Him.
Even broken, God wants us.
Even flawed by sin, God desires a relationship with us.
Even though we think there is no way we could ever be useful to God’s kingdom….God tells us otherwise. 
In the Bible, we are reminded how God completes us,…..even the broken vessels that we are, how HE makes us useful and beautiful masterpieces when held together by HIM.
In the Bible, we see this truth, seeing our futility in our actions to ever “do enough” or “say enough” or ” be enough” to ever earn our Father’s love.
God’s love is ever present….In God, He reveals our value.
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the believers living in the city of Colossae, we find the inspired words of God, written to them in that century, words that still apply to us today. 
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together”  (Colossians 1:17).
We cannot have anything that is untouched by God.
Our Relationships.
Our Finances.
Our Careers.
Our entire lives are a mess apart from God.  Our everything—-beautiful—-is because of Him.
Our everything is provided to us through God’s goodness, and we can fully trust that God will—-
HOLD US together, 
GLUE US back together,
COMPLETE US,
&
PUT US back together so we can continually accomplish His will.
There is a melody I heard this morning that spoke to me.
In the melody, “Just As I Am” by the artist Jason Crabb, the artist sings these words—-

We are broken, flawed , and patched pieces of clay.  Untouched, we are flawless, but then we are touched by the world where we become chipped, and broken, and flawed.
BUT…….
God uses the broken, the flawed, and the chipped.  He goes before us, before the moments of our days…….&
In Him, Yes, only in Him, are we held together.
In Him, Yes, only in Him, are we useful vessels.