Hearing how an innocent defenseless child has been hurt tears your heart out. With tears in his eyes he shared with me how he was violated and deeply wounded as a child, in ways that I would prefer not to graphically describe here. Even as he discussed himself he did so as if he was speaking about another person, totally aloof and detached.īut then the dam broke. At first he spoke calmly and deliberately. That is, until he began to share his story. Tall, handsome and articulate, he seemed put together. Not long ago a young man in his early 30’s came to see me. May we never return Jesus to a spiritual vendor for a refund, whereby we become damaged goods once again.The Psychology of Torah vs. May we who believe in him always cherish the gift that is Jesus. In light of God’s complete and perfect love, may we never play the field again. Though damaged goods, God keeps seeking after us to draw us to God’s self and make us whole through union with Jesus in the Spirit. The biblical story is a love story filled with declarations of God’s faithful love for a faithless people, who continue to go astray, but whom God continues to pursue. 2 says” ( The Freedom of a Christian, page 604). Jesus marries the beloved “in faith, steadfast love, and in mercies, righteousness, and justice, as Hos. It is a marriage union of spirits, not of flesh. It is through “the wedding ring of faith” that Jesus marries those who believe in him. Just as the heated iron glows like fire because of the union of fire with it, so the Word imparts its qualities to the soul” ( The Freedom of a Christian, page 601). Luther puts it this way: “No good work can rely upon the Word of God or live in the soul, for faith alone and the Word of God rule in the soul. It is a real union of hearts through faith, as God’s Word makes our hearts glow with God’s declaration of fiery love. Such marital union is not merely intellectual or judicial. Luther is talking about Jesus’ relationship with all those who believe in him, who trust him for their lives and salvation. And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, of which she may boast as of her own and which she can confidently display alongside her sins in the face of death and hell and say, “If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned, and all his is mine and all mine is his,” as the bride in the Song of Solomon (2:16) says, “My beloved is mine and I am his.” Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him. Who then can fully appreciate what this royal marriage means? Who can understand the riches of the glory of this grace? Here this rich and divine bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil, and adorns her with all his goodness. Here is how Martin Luther put the matter, as he discusses how Jesus takes us as damaged goods who are guilty of spiritual harlotry and faithlessness and makes us whole in spiritual union with himself, which is a “royal marriage”:
While we are all damaged goods based on our fallen, broken condition in relation to God and one another, God draws us into relationship once again through Jesus Christ by sheer trust in God’s word. Thankfully, Jesus does not view matters that way. Someone who has experienced broken relationships may appear to others as damaged goods to avoid. The language of damaged goods is often applied in the context of dating and marriage. God is so complete, pure and good that God can and does take damaged goods and makes them whole.
#DEFINE DAMAGED GOODS FREE#
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV).
It is a measureless overflow of divine goodness not dependent on our damaged state of being, but upon God’s wholeness. God’s measureless grace signifies that while we do not measure up, God keeps pouring out divine, unconditional love. We don’t measure up.īut that’s not all that Scripture teaches. As a result, we fall short of God’s glory. We are damaged, broken, smashed, all the result of our historic fall and never-ending spills as humans. As Romans 3:23 indicates, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (ESV). For what it’s worth, we all are damaged goods, according to Scripture. Yes, I’m damaged goods due to my broken condition bound up with humanity’s fall.
I am so very thankful that Jesus does not look at me as damaged goods from which he should stay clear.
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