I want to talk about something I hate and something my wife loves, but something God spoke to me about, Jigsaws!
Jigsaws begin in a mess, 100s even 1000s of pieces in a heap, and it is at that point we can become overwhelmed with the task, give up and walk away. However, we’ll all know in time the mess can be sorted and the intended image will be completed.
When Elijah ran from his calling, when Peter caused and swore denying the Lord, when you have sinned, your life can seem like and feel like a mess. Elijah wanted to die, Peter went back to his old way of life because they messed up. You may feel this piece of your life is a mess.
Let me remind you, “He Makes all things beautiful in His time…(Ecc 3:11) He works all things together for good…..(Rom 8:28)
The problem is that we look at the mess instead of the image the maker of the jigsaw began with.
God can sort out the mess of our lives; He can put it back together to produce the image He has of you, even if, like Elijah and Peter you created the mess of your life.
When you begin a jigsaw you look for the Straight Edges; they are easy to find and put together. The straight edges in the jigsaw of our lives are the boundaries God has set in place. Adam and Eve were given a boundary, “Do not eat…… (Gen 2:16-17)
God has given us boundaries in the Ten Commandments,(Ex 20) which are moral boundaries. People don’t like them because they are so straight to the point: “Do not…kill, steal, commit adultery…..” and so want to bend, stretch and step over these commandments.
He has also given us spiritual commandments…………… “Love the Lord with all your heat, soul and strength and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
God’s straight edges are easy to find, easy to define; the challenge is to live within those boundaries when the world around either has no boundaries or compromising Christians want to stretch them.
Psalm 1says: 1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Throughout putting a jigsaw together you must keep referring back the to maker’s intended image. Focusing on a small part of the jigsaw is essential, however we must constantly remind ourselves that it’s only a small part.
God’s jigsaw of our lives has an intended image, to be like Christ, to be like Him. …conformed to the likeness of his son (Rom 8:29), we are being transformed with increasing glory (2Cor 3:18). Christ is being formed in us (Gal 4:19).
So when we become frustrated with one small part of our life that is not coming together, wanting to give up, refer back to the maker’s image of our life, reminding ourselves He will bring to completion, the good work he has begun in you (Phil 1:6).
The seemingly Insignificant Pieces of a jigsaw are those bits of the sky or the grass that are all one colour. They don’t reveal any clues to where they fit and the only way to make them fit is to wait until the end of the jigsaw when it all finally comes together.
Throughout our lives there are many pieces that seem insignificant. We may have forgotten the acts of kindness, the words of encouragement, the complement, the smile, the hug, the gift, the sermon, but none of these things are insignificant because the whole of our lives would not be complete with them. In God’s time He will bring them all together and one day see the whole picture of our lives.
It is inevitable that at some point in putting a jigsaw together you will try to put a wrong piece in the wrong place.
No matter how much you force the wrong piece into the wrong place it will never fit and if you get it in it will knock all the other pieces out of place.
Don’t force what God has not endorsed. If you are having to force what you believe is God’s plan or what others tell you is God’s will, then it’s probably not right. It’s better to be in the place God wants you and let him fit it all together.
Jesus would not allow people to make Him King, because it wasn’t the right time or place and it would have knocked everything else His father had planned for his life (John 16:14-15).
Remember, we are in the palm of God’s hand (Isa 49:14-16). God’s wisdom, timing, and plan for our lives is good and perfect and it will all fit together one day. (Job 9:4)
The moment of triumph comes when you finally get to put the last piece in place.You can stand back and look at what you have done, so many pieces that were once a mess are now complete.
One day God will put the last piece in place, stand back, look at His Church in triumph and say, “the Bridegroom is coming for His beautiful Bride, without spot or blemish.”
The final piece for the man on the cross next to Jesus came at the very last moment of his life, when Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
We will be surprised who will be in heaven, including those people who rejected Jesus or seemed so unresponsive to our efforts to win them to Christ. Because at the last moments the final piece of the jigsaw will be put in place and they will be in paradise.
