restoration 

One of my most treasured possessions is a 1954 BMW motorcycle that used to belong to my Dad. It is a lot slower than a modern bike but it is a simple machine that is still a lot of fun to ride. You don’t have to look too closely to see that it is showing its age. Most of the parts are tarnished or corroded, a lot of the seals need to be replaced, the engine doesn’t have the compression it once had, and other things are just broken.

One day I hope to fully restore my `54 BMW to original condition but it will take a lot of work, time and money. I could try to do it myself, but my mechanical abilities are very limited so I would probably do more damage than good. I’m better off taking it to an expert mechanic, someone who knows how it is supposed to fit together and will be able to return it to its original condition.

When we look at our lives, they can often look similar to my vintage motorbike: beautiful but still worn, messy, broken, and a long way from what they are meant to be. We can try lots of things to restore our lives to the way we want them or we think they should be. What we need, however, is an expert who put together the original design for our lives, who is in the business of restoring us and our lives to our original condition.

That expert restorer is Jesus. He embraced the brokenness of human existence, took everything about us that needs to be restored to the cross, and then rose from the dead to make us new. That’s why Hebrews says, ‘let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most’ (Hebrews 4:16 NLT).

We can see the brokenness of our world clearly in what’s happening with the COVID-19 coronavirus. We can also see it in other ways in our lives.

One day I will take my `54 BMW to a mechanic to restore it to original condition. In a similar way, we can boldly take our broken lives and world to God now, trusting that he can and will restore us all to the way he intended us to be through Jesus by the power of his Holy Spirit.

God bless you and your families with grace and peace,

Pastor Eugene