"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians. 2:10

I was sitting at a table with a group of people when one man made a negative comment about himself, then turned to me and said, "You didn't know God made junk did you?"  I told him God didn't make junk, and therefore this man wasn't junk.  Even though he was joking when he made that comment to me, I suspect it is how he really feels about himself. He's a compassionate person and most helpful when you're in need, but all he sees are his failures.

God doesn’t make junk. He creates beautiful people. We are all wonderfully made. We were made for good works, or as the Living Bible says, “that we should spend these lives in helping others.”

It’s easy to look at our mistakes and think that we’re useless to God. But no life is so messed up, so broken, so physically imperfect that it can’t be restored into a beautiful life which will bring help to others and glory to God.  We all have a tendency to think everyone else has it all together, when in reality, we all are struggling with our own brokenness, mistakes, and hurts.  There is not one person on this planet who isn't struggling in some way. God loves each one.

There are several examples of broken people in the Bible who God loved and had a plan for even when their lives or actions seemed to make them hopeless cases. 

Esther was an orphan girl living with her cousin.  Women were not thought very highly of back then and an orphan girl would seem like a hopeless case.  God used Esther to save the Jewish nation.

Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery.  Later he was falsely accused and thrown into jail.  His life seemed hopeless and useless, but God used him to save the people from a 7 year-long famine.

Job lost each of his children and all his wealth.  His body became covered with boils and his wife walked out on him.  He seemed like a loss cause, but without knowing it, he was proving Satan wrong in the accusations Satan made to God.  Job's life and actions have provided comfort and encouragement to people even to this day.

The Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well was living a broken life.  She had been married 5 times and then didn't marry the 6th man in her life.  She failed in life and it looked hopeless for her.  Jesus spoke with her, offered her living water and God used her to bring the town people to Jesus and many in the town were converted.

Peter denied our Savior three times.  The shame he felt must have been overwhelming.  When Jesus saw Peter after the resurrection He didn't scold him.  He asked Peter to spread the Gospel of salvation to others.  Jesus trusted Peter.

Paul had a career of killing Christians, but Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus by sending down a bright light to temporarily blind Paul.  Paul became converted and was responsible for setting up the early churches.

When God creates each individual, He creates each one with special gifts and has a plan for each one.  He formed us, He knows every hair on our head (Luke 12:7). Our faces and personalities are known by Him.  It doesn't matter how far away we wander from Him, He never forgets us.  He never forgets who we are.  His love for us reaches to the far corners of this earth and to the depths of the ocean.  He does all He can to bring us back home to Him.  When we do come back and ask for His forgiveness, He doesn't see our failures.   In His great mercy He sees the beautiful person He created.   He doesn't see what we've done wrong, He sees the good we can do.

Isaiah 43:25 "I alone am the one who is going to wipe away your rebellious actions for my own sake. I will not remember your sins anymore." (God's Word translation)

Broken lives, and broken bodies are not junk to God.  Whatever the circumstance, God loves everyone.  He sees the value of each person.  He can see the usefulness and gifts of each one.  When we put ourselves in His hands and allow Him to mold and shape us into the person He always saw in us from the beginning, we become a new a beautiful creation.  We are His children, created in His image, by His hands.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!” 1John 3:2

For more on this topic:
Wonderfully Made
He Will Finish the Work in You
No One is Too Anything
Serving God in Our Own Way