How God Restores Us, Part 1
“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End….’”
Revelation 21:1-6 (NIV)
There are moments in our lives that are filled with inexpressible joy, peace, and love. We treasure those moments and live for them. There are also moments in life that are ugly, devastating, and painful – death, loss, betrayal, and brokenness. The beauty is mixed with ugliness in our fallen world because this human race is a broken place. From the beginning, God planned a redeemer, One who would come to restore all things! The One who created us knew our need for restoration and provided such a redeemer. He is pictured in the love story of Ruth as the Kinsman Redeemer, where the Bible says, “He shall be to you a restorer of life….” Ruth 4:15 (NRSV)
God’s restoration process falls in three stages. We’ll look at the first two stages today and the final one tomorrow.
Stage 1: Initial Restoration – Salvation
When man fell in the garden of Eden and sin separated us from our Creator, God promised to send a Savior to restore that relationship with God that was lost. This initial restoration culminated at the cross, where Jesus paid the price for our sin to reconcile us back to God. In Christ, our brokenness finds healing and wholeness. Author, Major W. Ian Thomas put it like this: “He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He suffered, the just for the unjust. Then He rose again from the dead because His reason for dying was to allow us to share His resurrection. Christ gave Himself for us to give Himself to us. His presence puts God back into the man. He came that we might have Life – God’s Life.” This is the beginning of our restoration. In Christ, we are a new creation! It’s a decision followed by a process.
Stage 2: Restoration Process
Having been initially restored by faith in Christ, we begin the process of living a new life – His life, the life He lived then, lived now by Him in us! In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Apostle Paul describes it like this: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
We learn a new walk, a new talk, a new desire. God changes the way we think by renewing our minds and transforms us from the inside out. God is maturing us to conform us to the very image of His Son. He is restoring our soul through our identification with Christ.
In his book, The Indwelling Life of Christ, Thomas adds, “In the years leading up to His death, the life Jesus lived was sinless, complete, perfect, and beautiful. Was that then all Jesus came to do – simply to give us a beautiful example to emulate? Was he saying, ‘Keep your eyes on Me and do your best to follow along?’ No. That would have been a message of futility. It could bring us nothing but despair. It is not a matter of our doing our best for Him, but of Christ being His best in us. All that He is in all that we are! We can never have more … and need never enjoy less. Just receive and say, ‘Thank You!’ This is the good news that is ours to tell.” That process is the adventure of a lifetime! Tomorrow we’ll look at the final stage of restoration to come.
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.