When I was growing up - when our kids were growing up - when generations of kids were growing up, mommys and daddys read stories to their kids. And most of them had a predictable ending - "and they lived happily ever after." Except for this one nursery rhyme - the one about that uncoordinated egg. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to learn from that one. You know - "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again." I kept waiting for the happy ending. There isn't one. Humpty's broken, he's in pieces, everybody tries to put him together, and nobody can. Humpty is broken and no one can fix him. Not necessarily.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Humpty Dumpty People."
We live in a world of Humpty Dumpty people. People who are broken inside - where it's hard to heal. You might be one of them. The pain and hurt and disappointment of your life have left you shattered. And though there have been attempts to put the pieces together, nothing has really worked. The brokenness remains. No "and they lived happily ever after."
Our word for today from the Word of God offers some real hope for what may have seemed hopeless until now - a happy ending. It's in Isaiah 61:1, speaking of Jesus Christ. "The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted." The Bible says that part of Jesus' mission on earth is to put together broken people. Maybe all the King's horses and all the King's men can't put you together again. But the King can.
If you'll give Him all the pieces of your life - no matter how hurtful, no matter how shameful, no matter how ugly. Jesus can do what no friend can do for you, no lover, no therapist, no medication, no family member, no emotional anesthetic. Why? Because He did what only He could do to deal with the root cause of all the brokenness in our world. And that's a spiritual destroyer that God calls sin.
No, not the breaking of someone's religious rules. Sin, according to the Bible, is the basic choice all of us have made to do our life our way instead of God's way. That has led us to a lifetime of choices that go against the way God made us to live. God says, "Sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:15). Sin always destroys - and leaves behind the pieces.
All of us have been the sinned against - and all of us have been the sinner. And all our brokenness is from one or the other.
But God's one and only Son came as Jesus to pay for all that sin. In God's words, "He carried our sins in His body on the tree." That's the cross where Jesus died. And because He paid for all our sins, He can forgive all the sins you've done - and heal the damage done by your sin and the sins of others. It's all summed up in that beautiful word "Savior."
But Jesus isn't your Savior until you ask Him to be - by telling Him you're putting your total trust in Him. Has there ever been a time when you've done that? That's the day the healing begins. It could be today for you. Tell Him you want Him to be your Savior from your sin.
No one else has been able to put together all the broken pieces of you. But that's why Jesus came - to bind up the brokenhearted. He is your wonderful hope of a happy ending.