Tag Archives: restoration

Are you experiencing heaven on earth?

 

God restores.  He doesn’t have to. He could divorce us, walk away, and start over. But he is, has always has been, and always will be in the business of:

Reconciliation
Redemption
Restoration
Recovery
Return
Renewal
Regeneration
Resurrection
And reclaiming

His plan to restore his creation is the centerpiece of his work on earth and and will be completed when the new heaven comes down to the new earth. (Revelation 20-21)  But God’s plan is not only for a new earth later, but renewal and restoration in your life right now.

Ponder this list, one by one. Is there an area of your life that needs reclaimed and redeemed by God for your own good? What about the good of others close to you? How would they benefit from your surrendering of all things to the control of God’s Spirit? Unconfessed sin, negative thoughts and emotions, and even apathy can set up strongholds in our minds. We try over and over to tame a critical tongue, a tendency to gossip, our penchant for personal gain, worry, fear, and our wasteful obsessions with things that don’t matter at the expense of those that really do. Oh, how we work to be “better Christians.” But it will never work out on our own. It is one of the paradoxes of the Christian life. We win only by surrendering. Only by consistently and persistently and relentlessly surrendering these strongholds to God’s control will we conquer them. And not only is he able to free us, it’s his desire to do so. It’s part of his master plan.  It’s part of the bigger picture of his redemptive plan to salvage his creation.

Have you ever wondered why God left us here on earth after he saved us? Why didn’t he just take us right away to heaven? Was it to work hard to serve him? The way I see it, we are left here to enjoy him:

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”  (Westminster Catechism – though I agree with John Piper, that it better reads “Man’s chief end is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.) It’s the job description not only for our time on earth but for all eternity. We exist to glorify God, because he alone is worthy of our praise. How do we glorify God? By enjoying him and being fully satisfied in him.

You already know what it means to enjoy time with a trusted friend, a walk in the park, and shared joys with close family. What does “enjoying God” mean to you? Can you imagine intimate fellowship with the one who loves you most, sitting at the feet of the master, watching his light disperse the darkness from your life? Could you marvel at his splendor, his wisdom, strength, his mercy and grace, and the depth of his unending love he lavishes upon us? Do you know what it is to experience firsthand his restorative work in your life, even as we dance trials? To possess the one thing that positively impacts those around us and our passion for living well, even in the midst of trying circumstances?

We experience “heaven on earth” by dwelling in his presence now. It’s how Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s a precursor of the new heaven those who are redeemed will one day experience. It’s his restoration plan to proclaim good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim freedom for the captives, and release them from darkness. (Isaiah 61:1)

There will come a time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when God will redeem and restore all his creation. His Word says that all who believe in the name of His Son, Jesus, will enjoy it forever. Shouldn’t thinking of this grab our attention now?

Randy Alcorn quotes British theologian J.C. Ryle: “I pity the man who never thinks about heaven,” and adds “thinks correctly” about heaven. “It’s our inaccurate thinking that causes us to think so little about heaven,” he says while noting that heaven has fallen off our radar screen.

I hope thinking of heaven inspires you and gives you hope. More over, I hope that you will enjoy  the “heaven on earth” he offers to all who believe and keep on believing in his Son, Jesus, the rescuer of our souls.

 

Restoration: From Grief to Glory

Another highlight of our recent memory maker trip was going to church with my sister at the Heart For The World church in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was obviously a community that lived its mission: Believe – Belong – Become, where everyone was accepted and embraced regardless of appearance or background. I was impressed with the gentle spirit with which pastor Dale Walker approached people and delivered a great message called “From Grief To Glory,” based on the Book of Ruth.

Pastor Dale lovingly reminded us that God is the restorer and redeemer of our broken lives. You know how you feel when you are broken, without hope or strength, lost, perhaps confused. Great disappointments are moments when we sometimes question our value and purpose in life.  Hopelessness is the biggest destroyer of lives and the second leading cause of teenage death. But God wants to restore us and repurpose us for His glory. And it is in the crucible of suffering and brokenness that we find ourselves ready for such transformation.

Our inheritance is found when the time comes to let go of our grief and transform it to its new and higher purpose. If the grief is our own doing, repentance is God’s gift, a second chance to make right on an old hurt so that healing and restoration can come.  And just as Ruth was a steadfast friend to Naomi, and key to her restoration, so we also need to live life with friends and carry each other’s burdens. (Galatians 6:1-2)

Think about one friend who has stuck with you through the fire of grief. Name one friend who you need to stick with. What area of your life do you want God to restore? He has a restoration party ready for you (Zechariah 9:12, Luke 15:10). Come all the way home and enjoy the celebration.

I will comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2-3

The Lord is my shepherd…He restores my soul. Psalm 23:2

 

 

 

Starved for solitude

“We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and privacy, and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory

My first thought in reading this quote is just the opposite; how much we need each other. I found this to be so true in the first nine months of leukemia treatment. Suddenly pulled from my normal routine of vibrant interactions with dozens of people daily, I found months of relative solitude to be a rather ‘painful’ experience. In fact, Lewis does address this earlier in his message. “We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. We are members of one another.” The Christian experience, without the building of true community is an oxymoron. We are meant for one another.

But what is it about our soul that leaves it starved also for solitude and meditation? We live in a world that makes constant demands for our attention. A steady flow of never-ending electronic beeps calls us to tasks, appointments, and endless access to news, social information, and status updates.

God designed us not only for activity, but also for stillness. “He MAKES me lie down in green pastures.” (Psalm 23) He prompts us: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) “Meditate on (His Word) day and night so that you may be careful to do everything in it…to be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8-9) The psalmist writes, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Probably, the busier we are in our current season of life, the more we need to take time to find an oasis throughout the day where we can find restoration and peace. Reformer Martin Luther commented, “Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer!”

Imagine going for days without any food or water. Soon you will discover the depleting effects from lack of nourishment: weakness, lack of productivity, confusion, irritability. The more you work, without replenishing your resources, the less you will accomplish. The less you accomplish, the more you will be tempted to work harder and longer. But it will not satisfy. The vicious downward spiral always works against us.

Meditation and prayer nourishes our soul. They lift us out of the depths of despair, refresh our perspective, and lead us on the path to wisdom and understanding, to peace, and renewed strength. God describes it like lifting us as on the wings of eagles! (Psalm 91)

The truth is we need both the solitude of meditation and the true friendship and community with others. We cheat ourselves when we neglect one or the other. I hope you will intentionally pursue both of these today. It is the path of experiencing God’s best for you.

The Battle Within

In the movie, A Knight’s Tale, “Sir William” tries to prove his love for the lady Jocelyn by winning all his tournament jousting matches. Jocelyn, knowing that William thrives off such success, demands that if he wants to prove his love for her, he must deny his own nature, and LOSE each match. The scene that follows is both humorous and inspiring.

I sometimes have to remind myself that my body is fighting the battle of/for its life, because other than being extremely tired, I have no real complaints. But this tiredness does wear on me, requiring a degree of rest that completely goes against my nature. Like “Sir William,” I am wired to be a ‘fighter.’ Let’s put on the armor and bring on this battle. I am not foolish enough to think I could ever do this alone. If God is not in the midst of the battle with me, it certainly won’t go well. But if He is, “Let’s do it!”

Last weekend I went through a tough physical battle in the middle of the night. With fever and chills and uncontrollable shaking for hours, I was praying all the ‘fighter’ scripture verses I had memorized. But there would be no relief until I finally landed on Matthew 11:28 where Jesus says, “Come to me all of you who are weary and I will give you rest.” Almost immediately my body started to calm and within the hour my fever broke.

I try to balance exercise, mental activity and rest as my body becomes weaker day by day. I think I should be on the slow path to restoration by now. But my body tells me the battle is not suited to the convenience of my schedule, reminding me that any perception of control in life is an illusion.

And so I am learning by experience what my heart has always known: we are called to be warriors of God, soldiers of the cross. But we must never forget that our inner nature is also to be that of a child who simply rests in the Heavenly Father’s loving arms.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He MAKES me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides the still waters. HE restores my soul.”