Ruins Restored

“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.