It’s a time of renewal and restoration around the church. A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the remodeling and opening of our new chapel. This 128 year old building was not useful until it had been restored. Now, it’s useful to God’s Church again.
This week, the Chitty family brought back the outdoor Nativity Scene and it looked beautiful! They had noticed that it had faded through the years and they took it upon themselves to give it a new look. They were the original artists and they restored their work.
In the larger context, renewal and restoration is the great hope of humanity, the message of Scripture and the work of the Church till He comes. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Co 5:17.)
Renewing the spirit of a man, renewing a marriage, renewing a church and renewing the World itself is something our Gospel can accomplish. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Co 4:16.) “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17.)
When Jesus comes in to our lives, He comes as a Master Re-builder. Everything that’s broken about us, He repairs. He causes a rebirth of new life. He restores years that the “locusts have eaten,” those years we lived in rebellion and self-centeredness. He renews our minds, He “restores my soul.”
What has Jesus re-made within you? Are you submissive to His work? What are you now compared to what you used to be?
Renew me, Jesus, and make me more like you!
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