“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:10
I’d been watching a series on YouTube called Restoration Home. Now this is not your ordinary home renovation program – in this program ordinary people (some with deep pockets and some with basically no pockets) are purchasing historically significant properties that have been long abandoned and left to ruin. Their new owners, pour life back into them – perhaps making them better than new, while preserving their beauty and history.
The interesting thing about many of the properties being featured is that from the outside and a short distance away, these buildings look beautiful. It is not until you get up close and go inside to the heart of the building that the depth of the ruin is truly discovered. Buildings fall to ruin from the inside out, not unlike we humans.
Thanks to Eve and Adam’s selfish disobedience, all of us and our planet are ruins. In the passage above Peter is encouraging his readers that the suffering they are facing – some brought on by their own sinfulness and some by the persecution they are facing from the culture around them, will only last a short time and then God Himself will restore them, making them strong once again. We are all ruins – yes, but we are not abandoned. The original architect of our world stands ready to do an amazing work of restoration in our lives if we let Him, if we find the courage to realize that we are ruins, that we need new life breathed into us. As each ruined human allows God to do His work in them, they become strong, they show the beauty God placed in them from the beginning, they find purpose and the relationship between Creator and creature is restored and that is the very best part. As we are restored, God is working out His plan to restore our planet as well. In Scripture we read that He is making all things new.
How are you looking? From the outside do you look beautiful and whole, while on the inside you are living ruined and broken? Is your heart and soul in need of a total restoration? Will you deny that anything is wrong or will you find the courage to recognize that a chat with the Architect is in order so that restoration work can begin or be continued?
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, remember that the reason for the celebration is Jesus – God in the form of a man come to open the way to restoration for those who believe and know they are ruined.
Let your life be restored by the original Architect and in the process your relationship with the Holy God who loves you will be restored as well.
A Prayer
Father – grant us the courage to recognized that we have fallen into ruin because of our selfishness and disobedient choices. Thank you for giving us Your Son, that we can be restored from the inside out. Restore our hearts that we long to serve You with everything in our being. Restore us, making us strong and steadfast. In the name of Jesus, who has made our restoration possible – Amen.
Friday, December 13, 2019
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Grateful for Lint
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Colossians 4:2
How many of you really love doing the laundry? Ok, now I know there are some out there who find ironing relaxing, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about the chore of washing, drying, folding and putting it all away. A necessary, menial task that gets done but isn’t necessarily a means of joy and thankfulness or is it?
Our oldest daughter admitted to lamenting about having to do the laundry, watching her family walk around clothed (how dare they) and realizing as soon as she had finished the laundry she would have to start the “vicious” cycle of laundry again. I get it. I helped her with the laundry once. Doing laundry at her house is a big task – the laundry room is in the lowest part of their house, it’s in the sub-basement and the master bedroom is on the highest level of the house – four flights of stairs away from the laundry room. Makes me very thankful for my tiny, single story house.
Then one day as she once again cleaned the dryer’s lint trap, she slowed down enough to actually see the lint. She discovered she could see all her reasons for being thankful in that lint. If the lint was dark, navy blue she could tell she had washed her firefighter husband’s work clothes. If the lint was tinted a paler color like pink, the clothes for her beautiful daughters had been washed. With each colored ball of lint taken from the dryer that day, she could see a reason to be grateful for what God had given her. What a change in perspective!
In the scripture passage above, Paul is preparing to close his letter to the Christians in Colosse. This church was feeling the pressures of other religious philosophies and Paul was writing to remind them of the truth of Jesus Christ and to encourage them to stay the course. As he prepares to close the letter he tells them to devote themselves to prayer – meaning to spend time with God communicating with Him, to stay focused on Him. To be watchful – watchful for the false teachers who would be trying to lead them from the truth and freedom they had found in Jesus and to keep a proper perspective on what it means to be a Christ following human. To be thankful – thankful for everything.
Thankful for the menial tasks that need to be done. Thankful for the celebrations of life. Thankful for the struggles and storms we often encounter in this life. Thankful for the perspective changing, course correcting moments in life. The kinds of moments that turn a disliked chore into a moment of thankfulness.
What are you not looking forward to? Do you have a never ending pile of laundry? Are you facing a more significant challenge in life – a health issue, the loss of a loved one, finances that never seem to keep up? Whatever it is – devote yourself to prayer. Pour out your heart to the God who loves you and listen for His heart to speak to yours. Be watchful, on the lookout for perspective changing moments and be thankful always and for everything.
A Prayer
Father – help us to wade through the piles of stuff we face in this life. Help us to seek you first in everything situation by being devoted to spending time with you in prayer. Help us to be watchful not only for the things and people who would try distract us from Your truth, but for those moment in life that can change our perspective and turn our laments into songs of thankfulness and praise. Help us to be thankful regardless of the situations we find ourselves in – because we can count on You to keep Your promises to finish the good work you have started in us. In the name of Jesus, who loves us more than we can possibly know. – Amen.
Colossians 4:2
How many of you really love doing the laundry? Ok, now I know there are some out there who find ironing relaxing, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about the chore of washing, drying, folding and putting it all away. A necessary, menial task that gets done but isn’t necessarily a means of joy and thankfulness or is it?
Our oldest daughter admitted to lamenting about having to do the laundry, watching her family walk around clothed (how dare they) and realizing as soon as she had finished the laundry she would have to start the “vicious” cycle of laundry again. I get it. I helped her with the laundry once. Doing laundry at her house is a big task – the laundry room is in the lowest part of their house, it’s in the sub-basement and the master bedroom is on the highest level of the house – four flights of stairs away from the laundry room. Makes me very thankful for my tiny, single story house.
Then one day as she once again cleaned the dryer’s lint trap, she slowed down enough to actually see the lint. She discovered she could see all her reasons for being thankful in that lint. If the lint was dark, navy blue she could tell she had washed her firefighter husband’s work clothes. If the lint was tinted a paler color like pink, the clothes for her beautiful daughters had been washed. With each colored ball of lint taken from the dryer that day, she could see a reason to be grateful for what God had given her. What a change in perspective!
In the scripture passage above, Paul is preparing to close his letter to the Christians in Colosse. This church was feeling the pressures of other religious philosophies and Paul was writing to remind them of the truth of Jesus Christ and to encourage them to stay the course. As he prepares to close the letter he tells them to devote themselves to prayer – meaning to spend time with God communicating with Him, to stay focused on Him. To be watchful – watchful for the false teachers who would be trying to lead them from the truth and freedom they had found in Jesus and to keep a proper perspective on what it means to be a Christ following human. To be thankful – thankful for everything.
Thankful for the menial tasks that need to be done. Thankful for the celebrations of life. Thankful for the struggles and storms we often encounter in this life. Thankful for the perspective changing, course correcting moments in life. The kinds of moments that turn a disliked chore into a moment of thankfulness.
What are you not looking forward to? Do you have a never ending pile of laundry? Are you facing a more significant challenge in life – a health issue, the loss of a loved one, finances that never seem to keep up? Whatever it is – devote yourself to prayer. Pour out your heart to the God who loves you and listen for His heart to speak to yours. Be watchful, on the lookout for perspective changing moments and be thankful always and for everything.
A Prayer
Father – help us to wade through the piles of stuff we face in this life. Help us to seek you first in everything situation by being devoted to spending time with you in prayer. Help us to be watchful not only for the things and people who would try distract us from Your truth, but for those moment in life that can change our perspective and turn our laments into songs of thankfulness and praise. Help us to be thankful regardless of the situations we find ourselves in – because we can count on You to keep Your promises to finish the good work you have started in us. In the name of Jesus, who loves us more than we can possibly know. – Amen.
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