Love Redeems Our Flaws
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
When my daughter was young, she brought home a coaster she had made in art class at school. It was a square ceramic base, hand-painted in the whimsical style you'd expect from a second-grader. But it had one interesting design feature that stood out. You might even call it a design flaw. My daughter had glued several decorative glass beads on the coaster's surface. While they looked very pretty, they rendered the coaster useless. You could not set a drink on it because of how the beads were arranged.
But as any parent would, we gladly accepted the coaster when she presented it. We could tell how proud she was of it, especially the beads. She loved those beads. My wife and I knew her personality. We knew she would have picked them out because they looked fancy and sparkly. She would have arranged them ever-so-carefully in those two little rows. We congratulated and encouraged her, then set the coaster aside on our end table.
I remember looking at the coaster over the next few days and smiling. It had become endearing. In a way, I appreciated its humanness. Its flaw reminded me that its meaning wasn't found in its functionality. Its meaning had everything to do with my daughter and our relationship.
Then, one morning, while my wife and I were drinking our coffee in the living room, I saw something that made me laugh out loud. My wife had ever so casually flipped the coaster upside down. The rows of beads that prohibited a drink from being set on the top of the coaster served as perfect "feet." By flipping it over, the coaster functioned perfectly—another win for my brilliant wife. The design flaw had been solved. The coaster had been redeemed.
You might see this as a stretch, but I think this is a perfect example of the work God's love does in and through us.
The coaster had great value because my daughter made it. Therefore, my wife sought to make it work, and it did. Love redeemed the flaw.
Despite our flaws, we have value. Why? Primarily because we were made in the image of God. But more so because Jesus purchased our lives on the cross. Jesus redeemed us. In spite of our brokenness, He gave His life to give us new purpose and meaning. And He did so out of His great love for us.
Jesus redeemed us in spite of our flaws. We are called to model this same brand of redemption to others.
When we truly know others, we can easily overlook their flaws. Their shortcomings aren't seen as failures but as evidence of their humanity. Of their realness. When viewed through the unfailing love of Christ in us, the flaws in others are redeemed.
And when we make ourselves known to others, truly known, we invite the same level of forgiveness, understanding, and redemption. To fail to make ourselves known to others robs us of this blessing.
This concept is wonderfully at work in Christ-centered communities, in marriages defined by open communication, in intentional relationships with your children, and in any environment defined by life-on-life interaction where the Gospel is at work, which is why these are each so important.
The ability to redeem flaws in others is part of our identities as Christ-followers. To have our own shortcomings redeemed by others is a gift. Our challenge is to be people who see others in light of their Christ-infused value and invite others to do the same to us.
This article originally appeared in the Good For You Newsletter, Vol: 10.
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