Some of you may or may not know this, but I have a guilty pleasure. I like to watch those video's when the take an old rusty, beat up item and restore it back to its former glory. I love watching an item that would other wise be thrown out in the trash get a make over. There is something about seeing the before and after shots that intrigues me for some reason.
Now I am not very skilled at fixing things. In fact for the most part I am all thumbs when it comes to working with tools (something I am trying to get better at). So for me when I watch those video's I am amazed at the skill and work that it takes to restore items that I probably would overlook or throw away.
Now there is something else that I must confess. I don't normally watch the videos all the way through. That's right I love the video's, I watch them regularly, but I rarely if ever watch the video all the way through. For me I want to jump to the part of the video where the project is almost over. I don't want to sit through watching the process, I want to jump right to the results.
In my spiritual walk I have to admit that I am not always showroom new. There are times, many times if I am being completely honest, that my walk with God is not what it once was.
My paint has been chipped by the outside influences that I allowed to draw me away from God. My gears have been run down and my barrings are shot because of sin that I have allowed to eat away at my relationship with God. At times I have done things that I was never meant to do, which has cause dents, scratches and wear on my spiritual walk. Sometimes my spiritual walk does not look like it did back in the day.
Maybe you can relate, perhaps you know exactly what I am talking about. Perhaps your gears have been grinding, your paint is chipped, and you can't say you exactly show room new.
Well let me tell you something that you need to hear. WE ARE NOT ALONE! That's right you have entered in a club, that if we are all being honest, we all belong to. There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. There is no such thing as attaining a level of perfection in your life.
Furthermore, Let me say that the God we serve is in the restoration business. You see you may be broken, rusty, and falling apart spiritually, but we don't have to stay there. We can be restored! We can be renewed!
God can clean the dirt and grime of sin that has been eating away us. He can begin stripping the old paint that has been marred by the worldly influences. He can take off the rust and ruin that was the result of bad decisions. It's God who can put a fresh coat of paint on us, and get our relationship with Him back in working order.
Go ahead and ask Sampson about God's willingness to restore His strength. Spend some time reading about Jonah who ran from God, but God gave him a second chance. Sit down and talk to the apostle Peter and ask Him about how God used him even after denying knowing Jesus three times. The bible is full of stories that shows us that God does and will restore us.
Lastly look at King David. At one time David was following God, doing what God wanted him to do. He was a man of tremendous faith, a man who stared up at a Giant and believed that God could help him fight this beast of a man and win the day.
However King David was not without his faults either. He committed adultery with a married woman. When he found out that this woman was pregant, and he could not hide it, he had her husband killed off and just so no one would find it suspicious, he married this widowed woman. He defiantly was not show room new!
David believed in the God who can restore us, who can make us show room new again. listen to what David says:
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Maybe your experiencing a stagnation in your walk with God. Perhaps your realtionship with God is not what it once was. Here is the good news. GOD CAN RESTORE YOU ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS JUST ASK!
One final thought: Unlike those restoration video's where you can fast forward to the "good part" when you can see the finished piece in all its restoration glory. There is no fast forward with God. You can't just jump to the "good part" in God's restoration it takes time. The process is not easy, there is no quick fix.
So just be patient, and continue to place your life in God's restorative hands and let that master carpenter from Galilee do what he is best at, fixing broken people.
