A broken violin can no longer play music. To the untrained eye, it might seem like a lost cause: cracks in the wood, strings snapped, the bow worn down. However, a master luthier sees not the damage but the design. In skilled hands, that broken instrument is not discarded. It is repaired, restrung, and tuned until it sings again. Creation after the fall is like a broken violin. This is what God is doing through redemption. He is restoring what was lost, reclaiming what was marred, and renewing us to reflect his glory. As Philip Yancey writes, “Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part,” bringing life even to what seems too far gone (Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997], 273).
