Our Heavnly Super Glue
Gluing Pots Back Together
Jean has a little decorative ceramic flowerpot that her father gave her after a business trip. It has great sentimental value since it reminds us of Jean’s dad, who died many years ago.
Recently, I dropped it and broke a piece off. Since we live in a “you break it, you fix it” household, I found our super glue and reattached the piece back onto the pot.
When I fixed it, I did not attach the two pieces together because the broken pieces would no longer bind to each other. They had to be mutually bound to a joint binding agent – the glue. They both adhered to the glue and, as a result, were held together as one piece.
Jesus – Our Common Binding Agent
Ephesians 2 uses a similar analogy when it says that we were once alienated from God because of sin. But through Jesus’ work on the cross, God reconciled us to Himself. Consequently, we who know Christ are reconciled to God and with each other through a common binding agent - the person of Jesus Christ.
He makes this clear in Ephesians 2:13-14: “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who has made the two one...” In Ephesians 2, Paul uses two words to describe our situation before and after Jesus – alienation and reconciliation.
Alienation is like a broken piece of pottery. It means to be estranged from or separated from. Before we knew Jesus, we were separated from God because of our sinful nature.
Reconciliation is like gluing the pieces back together. It involves bringing what was separated back together as one. Jesus’ death on the cross paid the price for our sins, removed the impediment that separated us from God, and reunited us with God.
Jesus Himself is Our Peace
When Paul writes in Ephesians 2:14,”...he himself is our peace,” he shows us that Jesus Christ is the binding agent who brings us from alienation to reconciliation with God—like gluing broken pieces of a pot back together.
When I re-glued the pot, the broken piece did not adhere directly to the other piece. The glue did all the work; it was the intermediary, just like Jesus is constantly working in us to bind us to God. Philippians 4:7 gives us an example of how Jesus works through prayer to bring us closer to God and away from the world.
Peace That Transcends All Understanding
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Anxiety is our human reaction to circumstances. It puts a question mark where God has placed a period. When left unchecked, anxiety will begin as a small trickle of fear that meanders through our mind, cutting a channel into which all other thoughts tumble.
But if Jesus himself is our peace, then, like super glue, he has promised to adhere our hearts and minds to God when we pray. So when we feel anxiety and worry beginning to bubble up, it should serve as our trigger to pivot from worry to prayer because Jesus himself is our peace.
Maranatha,
Andy
