Bent, Broken, but not beyond Restoration

I stood admiring the car that was more than 60 years old. I saw the ‘before’ and the ‘after.’ It had just been towed in from the barn where it had sat for decades the first time I saw it. The paint was dull with spots of rust. The upholstery was ripped, the window latches broken. The engine ran, but the transmission was gone. A year later, there it was, gleaming with a new coat of paint, looking like it did in a showroom long ago. The owner raised the hood and started the engine. It ran smoothly. Believe it or not, he had completed a 3000 mile long trip with it!

During my lifetime, I have met people who were broken, too. Some were abused as kids, others battered by husbands. Some had become addicted to drugs, others enslaved by sexual desire burning out of control. There were those incapable of loving deeply. And, I have seen those same people restored to whole beauty, transformed by an encounter with Christ Jesus. We are all bent, broken; but we are not beyond redemption! One of the hardest truths to face is the one that teaches us that "compiled this long and sorry record as sinners ... and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us." (Romans 3:23, The Message) It’s hard to admit that the world is broken. We hope that tomorrow will be different, that this person will not hurt us, that the Curse will not show its ugliness. We try to ignore the evidence of evil, divert our attention with trinkets and pleasures, or anesthetize our pain with entertainment. Sometimes we just give up on life, allowing ourselves to grow distant from our family and friends in bitter cynicism!

God offers a new way. He says that we can look at the ugliness of hatred, admit to our own failings, weep over our depravity - and find the promise of renewal in Him. "What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT) Conversion is not the end, but only the beginning. The Spirit of God comes on us when we respond to God’s call with faith, but the process is just beginning. From the inside out, we are being changed. The Lord says, "I will take away your stubbornness and make you eager to be completely faithful to me. You will want to obey me and all my laws and teachings. You will be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezekiel 11:19-20, CEV)

It’s not an easy road! The Devil seeks to sabotage and destroy every good thing God does in our world and in us. But, we take hold of His promise that He “is greater than he that is in this world.” God has spoken: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son." (Revelation 21:6-7, NIV)

Bent, broken by life and the sin in yourself and/or those who live around you?
There is a Redeemer, God’s own Son. Let Him restore the beauty God meant for your life.

Here’s a restoration prayer from the Word. "Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness." (Psalm 51:9-14, NIV)