December 2
December 2
We should be thankful that the gospel is a message of both reconciliation and restoration.
I have a deep appreciation for the many word pictures we find in Scripture. I love how the biblical writers paint pictures for us of the God who works on our behalf and of the way in which he works. These pictures are meant to inform, confront, and encourage. When you read your Bible, you should never rush past imagery of such things as the sun, wind, trees, water, food, shepherds, judges, fathers, lions, lambs, the temple, houses, bodies, and so on. The imagery in Scripture is loaded with redemptive meaning and is God’s way of opening the eyes of our hearts to the great and deep mysteries of the gospel. Restoration is the theme of many of these word pictures. Think of an old, crumbling house. Though it stands broken and neglected, it still has value. You can see glimpses of its original beauty.
God by his grace made me a house for his Spirit. But the house he has entered needs work. It still bears his image, but it has been bent, twisted, and disheveled by sin. So God enters the house with a mission of giving me justifying grace as well as restorative grace. He will not stop tearing down, replacing, and rebuilding until we are fully formed into his image. If you are his child, you are dependent on God’s restorative grace—and you are in the middle of its work.
But there is something else we should understand here. God calls us to join him in his mission of human restoration:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:1–2)
Five words in this passage define our restorative calling:
1. Caught. This is the condition. The idea is not “Aha, I caught you.” Instead, a brother or sister is ensnared in sin. He or she needs to be rescued from that snare.
2. Restore. This is the mission. We are not to condemn; we are to be tools of restoration in the hands of the Redeemer. Where and how does change need to take place?
3. Gentleness. This is the character of the mission. We come not with wrecking balls but with gentle tools of confrontation and hope.
4. Watch. This is the warning. As I join God’s restorative mission, I watch myself, so that pride, impatience, and judgment don’t get in the way.
5. Bear. This is the daily goal. Together we bear with one another in our struggles toward godliness.
God makes his work of restoration visible by sending his restorers to people who need his restorative mercies.