Restoration in Progress

Last fall I went out to my garage, took a leaf blower, and removed offending tree remnants from the concrete floor. A day later? Who could tell.

When our children were small, my wife would pick up after them all the time. When they were asleep the house looked nice. In the morning? Not so much.

We all go from assignment to assignment in the hopes that at some point we get ahead of the potential disaster that seems ready to pounce on our inattention.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics is – in it's basic understanding – a bit like taking a casserole and putting it in the oven hoping to achieve a final temperature of 350 degrees. Once achieved the casserole is removed and placed on the counter. Does it stay 350 degrees? No. It cools to room temperature if you don't either apply more energy to heat or cool it.

In the privacy of your own home you can apply the Second Law of Thermodynamics to so many things. Mom's pick up after kids because the alternative is chaos. We remove leaves from our garages because we appreciate order. But to give up applying energy to anything means that it cools to room temperature. The heat leaves it. It begins to decay.

When we give up, someone has to either pick up what we left - or what we worked for becomes dust.

God's 'heat' will be applied to our lives. We feel the scorch and it's uncomfortable. But perhaps this is God's way of saying, “Hey, I'm not giving up on you.”

God invests in broken people. He keeps repairing, restoring, and applying heat so one day His investment in our future proves His love always outshone our lack.

Maybe this gives us a new perspective on why sometimes God applies pressure that feels uncomfortable. He wants our obedience to transform us into the new creations He promised. The struggle to adjust may be His way of removing the old to make way for the new.

When heat isn't applied to our lives we lose the ability to show compassion, discover real joy, and embrace the hope God offers. We generate our own heat, but that heat always leaves us cold. We mock people, embrace sarcasm, find hate easy to apply, and bitterness becomes easy to accept.

God's heat brings light and understanding. God's heat makes us wise. God's heat makes us better.

“Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (MSG)

You can't restore a table without sanding the blemishes. You can't restore a car by simply painting rust. God can't restore you without applying energy to the end result that becomes willing to say, “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30 (NIV)

The Christian life isn't self-help – it's God helping those who need help.