Because of our fondness for home renovation shows, Staci and I have become very familiar with the concept of “repurposing” home décor and furniture items.
For those not familiar with the notion, it is the process of taking an object that has outlived its usefulness in its intended purpose, and instead of discarding the object, the owner transforms it for use in an entirely different household function.
Beyond watching others do it on TV, though, it was a concept we had almost no experience with until a few months ago when we found out we were expecting our first child.
Now, thanks to turning an entire room into a nursery, we have a bookcase that has become a movie shelf, a living room storage cabinet that has become a changing table and nursery storage, and we will soon transform a living room coffee table into a patio chair.
Our increasingly eco-minded culture has become ever more skilled at finding new uses for old objects like this instead of throwing them away.
Unfortunately, we aren’t always so skilled at looking at ourselves with the same eye.
We’re all flawed in some way. We’re besieged by hurts, weighed down by trials, at war with traits within ourselves that we struggle to overcome. There are things within each of us, seen or unseen, that would cause others in the world to see us as beyond any usefulness.
The world is quick to condemn us for what seems even our most insignificant blights. We are never beautiful enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, talented enough, healthy enough or strong enough to meet the image we are supposed to attain.
And because we feel so easily discarded, we begin to question our own value. We believe the lies that say we are worthless and beyond usefulness. We buy the thought of our own worthlessness.
And so we are too quick to give up on ourselves.
However, God did not choose to see us in light of our flaws.
To the God who created us and knows each of us intimately, each one of us is a priceless treasure.
In fact, He sees each of us as so priceless, He was willing to sacrifice His own Son to give us freedom from exactly those things for which the world would see us as not worth redemption. No matter how blemished you may see yourself, though,  there is always hope, and a brand new purpose waiting in the hands of a Savior who shed His blood on the cross to make everything new.
So when you feel tossed aside by the world and ready to throw in the towel, remember there is a loving God who created you for the grandest of purposes. In His eyes there is no one too broken to redeem, no one too far gone to love!
Where the world sees trash, Jesus Christ, in His grace, sees a new creation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Daniel Kiewel is a member of CrossPoint Church in Great Bend, and maintains a faith-based blog at www.breakthetape312.com. He can be reached at ampd4jesus@yahoo.com.