Our Place in God’s Master Jigsaw Puzzle
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18
A thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle depicting the Christ child in the manger, surrounded by Mary and Joseph and the animals and a brilliant sea of colors within a huge stained glass background, drove me bonkers.
I’d selected the puzzle specifically for its complicated array of hues, only to find none of the pieces seemed to align. I’d match a violet to a violet, but it would be all wrong. Nothing was working. Now it sat before me in a jumbled heap.
All I had to do was look at the box to see the finished product: a glorious harmony of color and shape. But in its present state, it was simply a jagged mess.
Before we know Christ, we’re a lot like those puzzle pieces: all scattered in the despair of our sins and weaknesses. But when we trust in Him for salvation, suddenly a pattern emerges. We realize we’re one tiny piece in a gazillion-piece puzzle that God not only created but knows precisely how to assemble. All we must do is be willing to be part of that whole.
In a letter to the early Christians in Corinth, the apostle Paul spent much time discussing the importance of unity in Christ. He explained that, although before we were doomed by sin, God asked His Son to suffer and die in our place. In Christ’s death and resurrection, He paid our penalty and became our eternal solution.
All we must do is repent and believe. We must be willing to let go of our individual puzzle-piece former selves to become one with God. Paul wrote that God “reconciled us to Himself through Christ.” When we choose the unity of Christ, the past is gone. Our future is with Him.
That leap of faith cements our place in God’s great plan. Alone we’re a messy pile of puzzle pieces, but through Christ, we’re one magical master creation.
Jessica Brodieis an award-winning journalist and a member of the Wholly Loved Ministries team. She’s also an author who currently serves as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. She is the author of More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey (2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists (2018), both from her newspaper’s Advocate Press. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction, represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Garden won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ 2018 Genesis Contest. She has a faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com.
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Originally published Wednesday, 12 June 2024.
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