SCRIPTURE: Luke 19:10
(TM)
For the Son of Man
came to find and restore the lost.
STORY: as told by Chuck
Swindoll
A few years ago, an angry man rushed through the Rijks
Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt's famous painting
"Nightwatch." Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly
before he could be stopped. A short time later, a distraught, hostile man
slipped into St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash
Michelangelo's beautiful sculpture The Pieta. Two cherished works of art were
severely damaged. But what did officials do? Throw them out and forget about
them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts, who worked with the utmost care
and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasures.
By His sovereign grace, God can bring good out of our
failures, and even out of our sins. J. Stuart Holden tells of an old Scottish
mansion close to where he had his little summer home. The walls of one room
were filled with sketches made by distinguished artists. The practice began
after a pitcher of soda water was accidentally spilled on a freshly decorated
wall and left an unsightly stain. At the time, a noted artist, Lord Landseer,
was a guest in the house. One day when the family went out to the moors, he
stayed behind. With a few masterful strokes of a piece of charcoal, that ugly spot
became the outline of a beautiful waterfall, bordered by trees and wildlife. He
turned that disfigured wall into one of his most successful depictions of
Highland life.
OBSERVATION:
We have all seen them – a pile of rust missing the doors,
hood, tires, engine, windshield and much more. We wouldn’t give this discarded
old automobile a second look let alone purchase it. Then the work of
restoration begins. With a patient hand and lots of long hours a beautiful old
car begins to emerge from that pile of rust. Eventually a prize winning antique
automobile sits in a car show. We marvel at the before pictures. We are amazed
at the step-by-step record of what had transpired to return the pile of rust to
the beautiful vehicle that sits before us. Such is the power of restoration …
the work of a master’s hand.
And so it goes in our lives. Plug-nickels are more valuable
than us. We feel useless and discarded. We are ignored, discounted and
dismissed … and then the Master’s hand begins the process of restoration,
rebuilding us from the ground up … lovingly returning us to God’s created
beauty.
No one is beyond hope. No one is so flawed that God cannot
restore them. No one. Such is the power of God’s mercy and grace. Such is the
message of the advent of God into our world. Regardless of how dark it might
seem presently, there is still hope. Regardless of how bad we might appear,
there is still possibilities. Regardless of the horrible, mistake driven our
life might actually be, there is greatness still within us.
Christmas is God’s affirmation that he is still in the
restoration business … taking the likes of you and me and returning us back to
our original state of created beauty. That is what he does! The finished
results are wonderful to behold. Don’t we all like the before and after
pictures? Especially when a human life
is at stake. Isn’t that just like God! Sure makes for a merry time of life!
PRAYER:
Thank you for taking our pile of messed up life, a life
filled with too many mistakes to count, and restoring us through Jesus Christ
with love and grace to your original design.
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