BY PASTOR BRANDON YOUNG
We are now living in a time that many people buy online and have their products shipped to their home. Unfortunately, many of these products arrive broken because the shipping company ignored the warning label: FRAGILE! They tossed these packages around and did not handle them with care. The definition of fragile is something that is easily broken or damaged; flimsy or insubstantial; easily destroyed; brittle, frail, weak, and delicate. As I read this definition, I could not help to think of humans. We completely fit this definition! The Psalmist states in chapter 103:13-14, “13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” We were created from dust and we are dependent upon the Lord for our survival. In fact, this was God’s perfect design.
What makes us so fragile? God gave man feelings or emotions. He did not make us a steel robot. He wanted a creature that could choose to love him. He made man a living soul. He allows us to think and feel on our own. Satan also knows we are fragile, and he came to steal, kill, and destroy, and will do everything in his power to break us mentally, emotionally, physically, and most of all spiritually. We must take refuge in Christ Jesus. God compares humanity to grass, flower that withers, and a vapor. All these items are fragile. God knows that he can use our weaknesses to prove his strength. In our moment of weakness, his strength is made perfect according to 2 Corinthians 12:9.
John 15:4-5 states, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, expect it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” We cannot do anything without God’s help! We must recognize the fact that he expects us to come to him as a little child. In fact, he says we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless we come to him as a little child. God wants us to come weak, humble, meek, mild, insufficient, so that his glory can be revealed within us. Because of our insufficiency and dependency, God can show off his mighty power!
We must recognize that others are also fragile, and we must handle each other with care. It is common for all of us to want those around us to be patient, kind, and understanding towards us, but it is easy to forget that others need that same treatment. The way we treat each other is the way we treat Christ. We must be patient, kind, understanding, and loving one towards another, and even to those that are difficult. These folks are probably the ones that are most fragile even though they seem the hardest hearted and tough on the exterior! We must acknowledge that everyone of us are human and that we all make mistakes. We can all hurt each other from time to time. Honestly, we all are like eggs just waiting for someone to come along and crack us open. Have you ever thought that many of us are one paycheck away from poverty? One injury or accident away from a disability? One word or action away from divorce? One action away from a divided church? One breath and heartbeat away from DEATH? But we also are one step away from stability in Christ Jesus.
Matthew Henry wrote, “God often brings his people into great straits, that they may apprehend their own insufficiency to help themselves and may be induced to place their trust and hope in his all-sufficiency. Our extremity is God’s opportunity. God’s raising the dead is a proof of his almighty power. He that can do this can do anything, can do all things, and is worthy to be trusted in at all times.” This is exactly what God wants us to see through our fragility! If we could but see the warning label on ourselves, and on all those around us, we might stop throwing around sharp words and jagged actions. We should handle others with kid gloves and encourage one another in the Lord. The world would be a much better place if we handled each other with care and looked towards Christ for our help and sufficiency. Aren’t you most appreciative when a company bubble wraps your internet order and insures it? It is a comfort knowing that when you receive it all will be well with the product inside or it will be replaced. Then once the delivery company sits it softly upon your front porch, and you open it up, everything is perfect! I know I am certainly thrilled with companies that treat my belongings as if they were their own! It is very simple really! We must treat others the way we prefer to be treated. You can’t go wrong living your life by the golden rule because at the end of the day we are all FRAGILE!
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, David Odom.)