The Ballestero Blog

He’s Messed Up!  He’s Damaged Goods!

When those words are spoken, the mental picture that is conjured up repulses my mind.

• No one treasures damaged goods.
• No one puts damaged goods on display as a thing of beauty.
• No one collects damaged goods as a hobby.
• No one specifically goes shopping for damaged goods.
• Damaged goods are almost always discarded and thrown away.
• Their valuable is next to nothing.
• The only future for damaged goods are in places like, Salvage Yards, Thrift Stores, City Dumps or maybe even a Yard Sale.

Granted, when I shop for new merchandise or articles of clothing, I never buy ‘seconds’ or ‘imperfects’ off the rack. I also ignore the container with the dent or major scratch sitting on the shelf. I look only for the perfect product.

And there, my Gentle Reader, is how we humans assign damaged goods to its inevitable doom.

Yet the Pastor part of me will never die. The part that always hopes against hope for a soul. That never wants to stop reaching for someone who has made the mistake of his or her life. If peradventure God will grant them repentance.

• What do we do with people when they become damaged goods?
• Do we finish them off?
• Do we keep them at arm’s length?
• Do we discount and destroy all the good they have accomplished?
• Do we cut them off and never call them again?

We only want to use the scriptures about The Potter’s marred and broken vessel when it concerns and benefits us.

I’ve seen too many fail that were never seen again, but I’ve lived long enough to see some exceptions.

There is no such thing as a throw away soul!

It is possible that we are ‘done’ with some folks before God is.

We all have met too many that seem to delight, and get pleasure, in telling the news of other’s moral failures. Why?

Why would anyone delight in passing news like that along?

Whether the news is about a saint or a preacher, I don’t wish to receive it even if there are two or three witnesses. I don’t want it to be true.

• People that enjoy hearing such things normally have bigger problems of their own.
• My mind is repulsed by the news.
• My gut sickens when I hear that someone I know has made a horrible mess of their life.
• When you heard the news, what did you do?
• Were you happy?
• Did you feel inward joy that a conservative brother messed up?
• Did you drop to your knees and pray? If not, why not?
• Did you weep tears for them? If not, why not?
• David did.  He wept for his enemy like he would have at his own Mother’s funeral. Psa. 35:14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
• If it was your enemy did you rejoice?
• If you did, I fear you’ve invited the displeasure of God upon yourself.

My Father warned me, when I was a young preacher, to never play Prosecuting Attorney or Private Investigator in the Kingdom of God.

I wish to add a third warning. Never be the Newspaper Publisher either.

Gal. 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Let me tell you a short and unknown Bible Story.

Israel had been held in captivity for 70 years. When they returned to their beloved city of Jerusalem, their hearts were crushed with despair. The walls had been broken down and most of the city burned. They had to rebuild the walls immediately. Nehemiah’s burden led the workers.

The enemies and critics of Israel watched and spouted their negative opinions.

Neh. 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

All that was left for Israel to rebuild the glorious walls of Jerusalem were heaps of burnt stones. They dug in the rubbish looking for damaged goods that they could restore.

Even the enemy recognized their dilemma and the futility of the idea. Yet that is exactly what happened.

Workmen picked up the stones one by one. They no doubt did their best to wipe away the stains of fire and dirt. Maybe they even washed them. I don’t know. One by one they cleansed each stone and then applied new mortar and placed them into the wall. The wall of Jerusalem was repaired using damaged stones from rubbish piles.

Neh. 4:7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

Neh. 6:15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

Neh. 12:43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

When they finished rebuilding the walls, a God ‘thing’ happened. God made them all get so happy that the noise of their joy was heard a long ways away.

The walls of Jerusalem that still stand today, were rebuilt with damaged goods. Burnt stones from the rubbish heaps now fit perfectly in place in the wall. It looks beautiful.

When you look at the walls today and take pictures of its grandeur, do you ever stop and think, “That wall was built with damaged goods”?

I didn’t think so.

Of that then do you think the Body of Christ is made up today? If you’re honest, you will have to say that God knows how to use, He knows where to put, and He knows how to restore damaged goods.

Does God ever use damaged goods again? Just ask Him.