Recently, while traveling down the interstate, I noticed a billboard that I had passed many times before yet never read. Big white letters stamped on a baby-blue background read, “Broken crayons still color.” At first, I only smiled and continued driving; but then, in the same way a warm breeze can bring back a long-lost memory of summer vacations, the big white words transported me back to a wooden table situated in a dimly lit dining room.

At that time, I was working as a children’s bereavement counselor for a local hospice organization. I often said that I was paid to play, but honestly, I learned some valuable lessons about life, love, and loss while coloring submarines and drawing dragons with grieving children. One case involved me meeting with a seven-year-old boy whose father had been murdered one week prior to our visit. This appointment vividly illustrated a lesson for me that I hope never to forget

As we sat there rummaging through my box of crayons looking for specific colors to complete our self-proclaimed masterpieces, my little friend and I discovered that many of my crayons were bent, broken, or bare.  I had a bad habit of leaving my coloring box in the car on hot days. I should have remembered my childhood discovery that crayons don’t react well to heat. I had learned this the hard way as I scraped splattered crayon from the roof of my grandmother’s microwave after attempting to make finger paint in a Styrofoam bowl.

While apologizing that my crayons were in such poor shape, I remember casually saying, “I should probably throw all the broken ones away.” Immediately he looked at me with a confused expression, picked up a broken cherry red Crayola that was missing its wrapper, and said, “Why would you do that? Broken crayons still color!” Whether he realized it or not, I was dumbfounded. That seven-year-old had just preached one of the best messages I had ever heard in only a few simple words. While he continued to color, I sat there thinking about that fact that “broken” and “worthless” were not synonymous.

That day I went to counsel him, but he ended up doing far more for me. When I later saw that sign on the interstate and reminisced to what I had learned at my little counselor’s table, I couldn’t help but think about the broken, bent, and bare people that I encounter every day. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times others, like myself, had suggested throwing them away. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times Jesus, like the little boy, chose them as the perfect tool to complete His masterpiece.

We’re all flawed in different ways. Some of us have been bent by the consequential heat of our own choices, others have been broken, like a crayon snapped in half by the overbearing pressure of a preschooler, while others are as bare as a Crayola without a wrapper because of the inescapable wear and tear of life. Because sin exists, so do defects. They are an unavoidable part of being human. However, our defects do not have to define us. Even broken things can become useful again when placed in the right hands. My little friend didn’t let the crayons limitation limit him. He used it despite its faults to create something beautiful.

That’s exactly what God does with broken, bent, and bare lives that are placed in His hand. God sent His Son into the world not to condemn sinners, but to save sinners who were condemned already. Jesus did not come to judge us, but to justify us. God demands perfection–a state none of us could ever achieve. So, Jesus came and achieved it in our place. Furthermore, He not only did what we couldn’t; He suffered so we wouldn’t. When Jesus died on the cross, He was punished in our place. Our sins were placed on Him who knew no sin so that His goodness could be placed on us. This is what we call the gospel.

Jesus is the good news in the middle of our mess. He came to bring beauty from the tragic ugliness of sin. Looking back, I remember the final strokes my little friend added to his picture.  I can still see him, tongue barely sticking out of the corner of his mouth, hard at work. When finished, he proudly held up his picture for my approval. I have to say it was the most beautiful red rose a seven-year-old boy ever imagined onto a sheet of paper; and the miracle was that it was all done with a half of a warped crayon that was missing its wrapper.

If you are reading this and you recognize your life looks more like my hodgepodge box of mixed up, messed up Crayola’s than it does a pack of new, unopened, and unused crayons right off the shelf, you are actually in a good place, not a bad place.  You are just the color God is looking for. He didn’t come to help people who were well. He came to help people who were in need of a physician. If you’re broken, you are not helpless; if you’re bent, you are not useless; if you’re bare, you are not worthless. God makes His best masterpieces with tools that others considered to be a throwaway mess.

If you will come to Jesus, I guarantee you, He will come to you. If you will take Him at His word and trust Him for His forgiveness, He will take you as you are and change you into what you were meant to be. He will take the broken, bent, and bare parts of your life and restore them. Not only will He restore them, He will use them to create a masterpiece He can hold up and show His Father, a masterpiece that the Creator of color Himself will find breathtaking and be proud of. Jesus chooses, and Jesus uses the broken ones, because Jesus loves them too much to throw them away.

-Pastor Benjamin Webb

Have you ever tried to put a massive puzzle together without the box to guide you? I think it would be well nigh impossible. Every piece of the puzzle has a specific place where it is meant to fit in the larger design. The church is not so different. We are all pieces of a bigger picture. The question is, what is the picture and where do we fit?

For the last three years we have corporately devoted the month of June to intentional prayer and fasting. We have sought God for many things during these designated times, and many of those specific prayers have received specific answers. Last year, in obedience to His command we asked God to send us laborers for His harvest. This is a prayer we have prayed often, and this is a prayer God has answered. Crestwood has been uniquely blessed with a collective body willing to go where God leads and do what God commands. A large percentage of our body is actively involved in some form of organized church ministry. For this we should be especially grateful.

Furthermore, we have not only been blessed with loyal and willing followers, we have been blessed with insightful and gifted leaders. I know I say it often, but I do not know if we really realize what God has done for us. We have been blessed with six men called to and gifted for the ministry.  Over fifteen percent of our active congregation have been given the gift of teaching. What is most interesting to me about this, is not only are these teachers obviously gifted, they are very gifted.

We know from the scripture that every member of the body is gifted for service in the body. We tend to focus on the speaking gifts, but the serving gifts are of equal importance. It’s obvious God has woven our local body together for a specific purpose. It is time we get serious about discovering what that purpose is. Beyond our gifted body we have been blessed with a large facility, parts of which remain almost totally unused. God has seen our church through difficult days in the past and has strengthened us to become a growing thriving church.

All our financial and physical needs have been met with blessings to spare. It is obvious that God has favored us. Now, I want to know why. I know the chief answer to the why is simply that He is good, but I am convinced there is more to it than that. God has a purpose for His church and a purpose for every individual in His church. I want to know what that purpose is. We could attempt to do many things for the Kingdom of God, but I would much rather do the one thing God has designed us to do for the sake of His kingdom.

Therefore, I would like to ask you to join me this month in praying and fasting for answers to two questions. What is His purpose for our church and where do I fit in the bigger picture? I believe God has given us the pieces, but we need His wisdom in putting them together. It may be that there are still some scattered pieces that He must bring to us before the whole puzzle can be complete. It may be that some pieces need to be turned around so that they can fit where they belong. No matter the case, we need His leadership in putting the puzzle together. I think it would be somewhat arrogant of us to assume we can ever completely understand the God’s whole plan, but I also think it would be foolish and faithless of us not to ask for directions in putting the puzzle together one piece at a time. Again, I ask you to pray and fast for direction on these two questions: What is God’s purpose for our church and how do I fit in the bigger picture?

In Christ Alone,

We are taught to believe our hearts are basically good, but God says they are basically bad, and He is the leading authority on the subject. Our hearts are compulsive liars, always at the loom fabricating fairy tales and false information.  One of the greatest temptations we face in life is naively believing the lies our own hearts whisper to us; lies not about others but lies about ourselves.

Knowing just how conniving and convincing our heart could be, God unlocked two windows in His word through which we could look and see the unflattering truths our hearts would rather keep secret. These two windows are our words and our wallets. Allow me to explain.

Our words provide an open window to look in and see the condition of our heart.

 Matthew 12: 34-35
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good,
and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

According to Jesus what comes out is a product of what’s within. It is easy to convince ourselves that we are faithful followers of Jesus, but sometimes our words speak louder than our actions. What comes out of our mouth is an unmistakable betrayal of what is in our heart. How often have we said something like, “I didn’t mean to say that,” when we should have said, “I didn’t mean to say that out loud”?

God lets us in on this little secret; if you want to know the truth about your own heart, look through the window of your words. A dirty mouth is the fruit of a dirty heart. Sweet water can’t come from a bitter well, nor bitter water from a sweet spring. What comes out of the fountain is only the product of what’s in the fountain.

At this point many of us may be quick to defend ourselves and say, “Well I don’t talk ‘dirty’ so that must mean I’m clean,” but we must be careful to examine the whole case laid before us. It’s not just how we talk that matters, it’s what we talk about. It’s very possible to have a clean mouth and still have a cluttered heart. We talk about what we cherish. If the majority of our conversational life is about everything and anything but Jesus and His kingdom, then the view from the outside window tells us the inside is cluttered and needs to be cleaned. By nature, we are hoarders. God doesn’t just want an organized mess, He wants a decluttered house.

Our hearts may lie but our lips always tell the truth. Even our lies tell the truth about our heart.

Our wallets provide an open window to look in and see the disposition of our heart.

Matthew 6: 21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It seems to me, Jesus taught that our wallets, rather than our eyes, are the windows to our soul. If the location of our treasure determines the location of our heart, then it is safe to also say that wherever our heart is pointing is where our treasure will be placed. Few things can pull the curtain back on our inner life better than the way we use the money God has entrusted to us. Our bank statements give a more honest testimony about what we believe than our confession does.

The belief that this world is transient, but Christ’s kingdom is permanent, the conviction that Christ is better than everything else, the assurance that God will meet my needs according to His riches in glory are all key components of the Christian faith. It is one thing to recite a confession as an affirmation of these truths; it is another thing to give sacrificially as a confirmation we believe these truths. Talk is cheap, but sacrifice is not. It’s easy to sing, Oh How I Love Jesus with our lips while our hearts are singing, In It For the Money.

Our hearts lie, but the paper trail doesn’t. My question to you is not whether you believe in the Kingdom. My question is, would your accountant be convinced you believe in the coming King and His coming Kingdom? How we manage what we have been entrusted with is the needle on our inward compass, and it always points not just to where our treasure is but to where our heart is also.

Often, God’s most obvious acts of kindness are His most overlooked overtures of grace. One of the surest evidences of God’s love for us is His unending pursuit of our holiness, for without holiness no man can see Him. Though it is often unwelcome, unwanted, and unappreciated, conviction of sin is an act of compassion. God’s call to repent is always a call to return. It is an instruction to turn from the sin that leaves us thirsty and an invitation to return to the only well where water can be found.

It is mercy that opens ours eyes to see the corruption of our own soul. It is grace that calls us to come to Christ for cleansing. Only God has the power to open our blind eyes and expose what He’s seen all along. It is a great kindness when He opens the bolted windows and shines the light of His word into the dark and forbidden corners of our heart. It is a great blessing when He enables us to see the lies we have been hiding from ourselves. He doesn’t just open the window to let the truth out, He opens the window to let the Breeze in. I encourage you, don’t just acknowledge the truth; ask the Spirit to blow through and change your reality.

-Pastor Benjamin Webb

After closing on our new house this past June, getting my garden planted was my top priority. When I finished, there were thirty-four tomato bushes planted in two neat rows of sixteen each. Within a week of planting little yellow flower clusters were appearing on the bearing branches of every plant. All gardeners know that flowers mean fruit, and fruit means success. By late June my plants were covered with growing emerald marbles. All I had to do was water and wait.

As July warmed and the plants grew strong, I went out every day expecting ripening fruit, but I was met instead with ripening frustration.  I was accustomed to having my first tomato sandwich in late June but since I had planted later this year, I thought I would just have to be patient. I quickly became concerned because I noticed that when my tomatoes reached golf ball size they just disappeared. Occasionally I found a half-eaten green tomato on other parts of our lot. Every night more tomatoes disappeared until eventually the whole garden was bare.

I was convinced, though I could find no tracks, that the culprit had to be a deer. The plants were too high for a rabbit to reach and, unless they had an insatiable taste for fried green tomatoes, it didn’t make sense to assume someone was stealing them. I was legitimately perplexed. Then one morning it all made sense. I poured my first cup of liquid life into a half-filled cup of French Vanilla Creamer. As I sipped my creamer, I casually glanced out the kitchen window above the sink and saw something that made everything make sense.

I don’t know If I can communicate to you the hilarious nature of what I saw. A chain link fence separates our lot from the neighbor behind us. Several small trees have grown along the fence line. Hanging upside down, with arms stretched toward the ground, swinging back and forth in the wind, with a big green tomato in his mouth was a not-so-ordinary gray squirrel. Until that moment I didn’t know squirrels would eat tomatoes, but the evidence was undeniable.

I had seen this little bandit several times before. He was unmistakable because he had a crooked tail and a peculiar way of walking. Just a couple days earlier I had watched him clumsily wander around the yard. He seemed to walk crooked as if he had a flat tire and was always being pulled to the right. To be honest I wasn’t sure if he was handicapped or just goofy. Regardless, he was harmless, and I didn’t mind sharing my space with him until I discovered he was the burglar robbing me blind. No matter how cute he seemed, I knew he was a thief, and now he was my enemy.

The more I thought about his presence in my garden, the more concerned I became. I began to wonder if there were any cute little thieves stealing fruit from the garden in my soul. If you’re unsure of what I’m referring to, let me explain. I’m talking about those little sins that we don’t mind cohabitating with. I’m speaking of those offences against God that, though seemingly small and harmless, steal the young fruit of the Spirit right off the vine. In his most famous song, Solomon likened these little thieves to selfish and senseless animals who plunder the harvest as well:

“Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the vines,
For our vines have tender grapes.”
(SoS 2:15)

The flesh tempts us to believe that if our sins are “small” they are harmless. It throws up a caution flag when the Spirit begins to work and says, “Your little pickpockets may be a problem but at least you don’t have pet snakes.” Or, to put it bluntly, “Your sin is not near as heinous as theirs.”

And it’s tempting to believe it’s right. Of course, there are different categories of sin, aren’t there? There are the big nefarious ones–you know, the kind that “bad” people commit–and then there are the harmless little pet sins that we are much more willing to tolerate because we think in their own odd way they are actually kind of cute. There are some very evident problems with that way of thinking. First, sin can’t be domesticated. It may appear tame and under control for a time but make no mistake it’s wild and eventually it will destroy its own habitat.

Second,

it was not big wild sins that mauled Christ on His cross, it was just sin– mostly everyday ordinary sin.

There are no such things as a harmless or innocent sins; there are only deadly ones.

I always plant more than we will ever eat and consider it a privilege to give most of my produce away. Letting that little brown bandit have free course in my garden wasn’t just hurting me; it was hurting other people. It was keeping them from getting the nourishment they needed from me. We must all come to the sobering realization that others will go hungry and our garden will be bare unless we are willing to deal with the obvious thieves that are stealing the fruit right off the branches.

It was obvious I had to go squirrel hunting, not just in my back yard but in my heart. The truth is, no matter how accustomed to or fond of their presence I had grown, my pet sins had to be destroyed or they were going to destroy me. My thought process had to change. The question wasn’t, “Does this bother me?” The only question that mattered was, “Does this bother God?” If the answer was yes, it was time to serve their eviction notice.

In case you’re wondering, I didn’t kill the squirrel. I just helped him reshape his appetites. But that’s another story for another time.

In Christ Alone,

From Darkness to Light

2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the beginning there was darkness, and deep was that darkness. Confusion like a morning fog hung thick over the colorless landscape. A stubborn emptiness occupied every vacant space. Fear thundered in the distance and grew like a storm that couldn’t yet be seen but was doubtless about to break loose. Every shadow harbored a secret. The blinding darkness was better than vision if seeing meant beholding what was there. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

It may surprise you to discover that the deathly place I have been describing was not a place on earth but a place in me. You see, I’m not speaking of earth’s creation, but of my conversion. That lifeless wasteland, stretching as far as the imagination could see, was my own heart. In the beginning darkness was all I knew and therefore all I wanted. Quite frankly, I loved the darkness, because my deeds were evil. However, God’s goodness was greater than my badness. The Genius of Genesis was not content to let me dwell alone in my self-constructed cell. He was determined to bring me out of my darkness and into His marvelous light.

At six years old, God whispered into my little universe, “Let there be light,” and suddenly there was light. The Apostle Paul describes the dawn in his soul like a bolt of lightning falling from a cloudless sky. My experience was more like a gentle sunrise slowly climbing up heaven’s eastern wall. That one Son-rise changed every subsequent sunset. In that moment the day dawned; and the Son’s been getting brighter ever since.

It didn’t take me long to discover my darkness couldn’t share quarters with His Light. Light by its very nature can’t be contained. It finds its way into every dark crevice; it spreads into the smallest recess of every shadowed corner. Often is exposes the dirt I didn’t even know was there. Yet, somehow, even when it reveals the dust that I would rather leave hidden, it does it in a comforting and constructive way. The same Light that continually drives away the darkness warms the air it leaves behind. When it shines in my heart, it melts away the icicles that grow on the ledges of my soul. All I can say is, I’m thankful for the light He gave that led me to the Light I love.

From Light to Darkness

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

It’s easy to comprehend a sunrise; it’s well-nigh impossible to grasp the sun being placed in a flowerpot. Yet, that is exactly what God did in the heart of every true believer when He said, “Let there be light.” He didn’t just bring us out into the light—He sent the Light to live in us. This is a wonder beyond comprehension but not beyond belief. We know the Light has come to dwell in us because of the fruit He now produces through us.

In the beginning, before God said let the land produce fruit, He first said let the land have light. Without the sun’s energy, fruit cannot grow. Therefore, fruit is a product of light. The Light in us proves His presence by producing fruit through us. It is not just that we were once blind, but now we see; no, it is also that we were once bare, but now, because of the Light, we are abounding.

The Light He put in us now shines through us. He is the Light of the world, but He has chosen us to be His lights in the world. We have been given the privilege of carrying the light that carried us out of the darkness back into the darkness. As He once spoke, “Let there be light,” we are now commissioned to shine light into every crevice and remote corner of the kingdom of darkness.

When the darkness resists our advance, it should neither surprise nor alarm us. The day is as incomprehensible to the children of the night as sight is to a man born blind. Yet of this we are sure, the darkness has not and will not overcome the Light.

Darkness never has power over light, but light always has power over darkness.

Soon the darkness will be driven out, never to return, but the light of the risen Son will never set. The Light that He is, and the light that He gives, will never grow dim or go out. The glory of the Son will shine so brightly on His new earth no other light will be needed. He will Himself be our constant source of clean energy. Literally, He will power the world with nothing more than His own presence.

If we house this unquenchable flame in vessels of clay, it only seems logical to conclude that it will shine out somewhere. It is with confidence in the Light dwells in us we boldly and creatively declare to the darkness, “Let there be light.” We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that all glory may be given to the Light and none to the lamp.

-Pastor Benjamin Webb