Have you ever broken something valuable? If you have, you might wish you had known how to practice the Japanese art of kintsugi. When glasses or dishes break, a kintsugi artist skillfully repairs the broken items by filling in the cracks with lacquer mixed with gold or silver. Instead of trying to mask the imperfections or make them disappear, an artist works on them to reform the product with brilliance and beauty that far surpass the original.
Kintsugi is composed of two words: kin (金), which means “gold,” and tsugi (継ぎ), which means “to join, mend, or connect.” Thus, it is literally translated “to join with gold.” The Lord God joins believers in Jesus to Himself through our faith, which is “much more precious than gold” (1 Peter 1:7). And He has mastered this art of kintsugi on mankind’s sinful maladies since the beginning of human history.
Disobedience: Adam and Eve
God flawlessly created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, in His image. He blessed them and provided everything they needed, and it was very good (Genesis 1:28, 31). Only one prohibition could doom their perfect relationship with God: the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” God told them (2:17).
Perhaps you’ve imagined yourself in Adam and Eve’s position before. The fruits of all trees were freely available to eat except for one. How hard could it be to follow that rule? Yet, this first sin highlights the problem all people share: our natural inclination toward rebellion against our holy God.
Of course, Adam and Eve fell prey to their one restriction, disobeyed God, and ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Thus, God had every right to destroy them for their crime against His holiness.
When God lined them up for judgment, Adam and Eve probably felt the way we all felt when our fathers caught us disobeying and prepared to discipline us. But before God passed sentence on the man and woman, He punished the serpent, Satan (cf. Revelation 12:9; 20:2), the instigator of the sinful act, saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).
This prophecy has served as a beautiful assurance of hope and restoration for humanity ever since then. By stating that Eve’s Seed would bruise the serpent’s head, God guaranteed Satan’s attempt to supplant Him would ultimately be squashed.
God metaphorically filled in humanity’s cracks—the sin that separates us from Him—with spiritual gold by defeating the Devil and supplying salvation through Jesus.
Jesus, the Son of God and the Seed of Eve, fulfilled this perfect prophecy. By living a perfect life and submitting Himself to die, He paid for mankind’s sins and fulfilled the prophetic clause concerning Satan: “You shall bruise [Jesus’] heel.” In so doing, God metaphorically filled in humanity’s cracks—the sin that separates us from Him—with spiritual gold by defeating the Devil and supplying salvation through Jesus, allowing His glory to shine through human weakness.
Denial: Peter
Likewise, Jesus memorably practiced kintsugi on the apostle Peter before and after His death. On the night Jesus was led away from His disciples to be killed, Peter rashly announced to Jesus among them all, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be. . . . If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Mark 14:29, 31). Yet, before morning dawned, Peter denied three times that He even knew Jesus, just as the Lord predicted (vv. 66–72).
Peter broke his promise not to stumble. But God did not leave him broken. After Jesus arose and shortly before ascending to heaven, He asked Peter three times, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” (John 21:15–19). Peter received a threefold chance for redemption, mirroring his threefold denial. From then on, he lived an unbridled, emboldened life for his Savior and even took a second opportunity to die for Him, as he once promised he would. It is believed that Peter was granted his request to die as a martyr by upside-down crucifixion, feeling unworthy to be killed in the same manner as his Lord.
Dissipation: The Prodigal Son
Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son also illustrates a memorable picture of restoration. As Jesus told the story, one of a father’s two sons demanded his inheritance money and immediately squandered it all on worthless living. When he soon found himself at rock bottom, surviving a famine only by finding employment feeding pigs, he acknowledged he had sinned against his father. His gracious father had everything the starving man needed, but asking for provision after burning through his father’s original gift to him required immense humility.
So, the man humbled himself, went to his father, and said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). The father not only forgave his son but also lavished him with gifts and a feast. He explained to his other son, “Your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found” (v. 32).
Our heavenly Father shows the same incomparable grace toward us. Each of us sins against Him, and we all deserve eternal condemnation. Yet, God doesn’t leave us alone to suffer this fate. Through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, God does all the work to fix our relationship. All we have to do is repent of our sins and trust Jesus as our Savior.
Rather than discarding us in our brokenness, He expertly fashions each of us into something far more beautiful than we once were.
The apostle Paul highlighted God’s spiritual repairs in his life: “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
God has a wonderful way of performing spiritual kintsugi on believers in Jesus. Rather than discarding us in our brokenness, He expertly fashions each of us into something far more beautiful than we once were: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). What a blessing it is that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1), the Master Artist who cleans up our shattered pieces and creates beauty through them.
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock
About the Author
