Downsizing from a house to an apartment is challenging. I am still adjusting to my downsized life and I have thrown away so many things. My kitchen is smaller. My closet is smaller. I am still working my way through this move, trying to get everything to fit in my new place. I brought several boxes from my old kitchen into my apartment, and I went through cake pans that I'd collected over the years. Many of them I haven't touched in possibly a decade! As I went through them, I filled two trash cans full of cake pans and other kitchen supplies that I can't use anymore (nor do I have room for). Some of them were actually rusty, and not even fit for donation.
It was time to throw them away.
I went through a similar exercise with my clothes. I have some old clothes that I haven't gotten rid of for whatever reason. They may have holes in them, or possibly even stained. But, holding onto things like this is no longer possible in this little apartment. So, I did what I needed to do.
I threw them away.
God has led my heart to accept it, though, and I actually welcome it now. A simpler life frees me up for so many more things, and while I'm still in transition, I am enjoying life with fewer things. Life is easier when you throw away things that no longer serve your purpose.
Perhaps that's what makes God so amazing. I'm making my way through Judges in the Bible. As I read some of the stories, I ask myself, God why would you ever want to save us? We stopped serving your purpose a long time ago. Humanity is so cruel, and so depraved. Its been that way since Biblical times.
God could have looked at the earth and the humans He created, and decided to start over. Time to throw it all away and start anew. He has the power to do it, yet He doesn't. Instead He sacrifices his only Son to save it. I watch the news today full of anger and hate, and simultaneously I'm reading the old testament, full of depravity, and know I wouldn't have made the same call. I think I'd have tossed the entire creation into the trash bin. Chalk it up as a failure, and move on.
Its a good thing I'm not God. He has a different view.
Joel 2:25-26 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
It turns out God likes words that start with "re". God's entire plan for humanity and creation is to restore, redeem, and resurrect it. We will have the opportunity to live the life we were meant to live all along, in the presence of the One who created us.
Restore: I go through various stages of obsessive hobbies. For a while, I was obsessed with restoring furniture. I would look for old furniture, sometimes antiques, and I would study how to restore it back to its original condition. Sometimes I would find my treasures being discarded on the side of the street, or given away at garage sales. I liked stripping off years of dried, crusty paint to reveal a beautiful piece of wood furniture underneath. Then I would sand away all of the scratches in the wood.
Restoration simply meant fixing everything that was broken and removing the years of dirt, paint, and damage to reveal what was truly underneath. I tried to imagine creating the original piece of furniture years ago, and the beauty of it when it was brand new. I always wanted to bring it back to the original beauty.
God says he will restore us. All of the damage done by living in a broken world will someday be removed. God doesn't say He will recreate us or start all over. He will restore what's already there, buried under years of pain, rejection, heartache, and suffering.
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
God doesn't give up on his creation. His story is one of preserving his creation. Protecting his creation. Restoring his creation.
After years of traumatic events, including my divorce, I found myself lost. I was so buried underneath the pain and rejection of it all. I was angry all of the time (still gets the best of me sometimes), and I had become someone I didn't like anymore. I was like a wounded animal, lashing out at anyone who was brave enough to try to get close to me.
I needed God to restore me. I didn't know what happened, but I had morphed so far away from what I wanted to be, and what He created me to be. I'm sure I'm still a long ways from my original design, but the realization that I didn't have to ask God to make me into a new person was a big deal to me. I just needed God to take me back to who I truly was, because that was valuable enough for God to fashion with His own hands. My personality, my kindness and caring, and even my sense of humor were part of my original design. I wasn't a bad person. I had simply lost it buried under years of dirt. I needed my Savior to restore me. I still need it. Every day of my life.
I wonder about heaven. It must feel so incredible to be completely restored once and for all.
Redeem: The definition of redeem is to "gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment". I can certainly understand the joy of restoration. It is work, but it is also rewarding to take something back to its original purpose. But, to pay a large price for something that is worn, damaged, and in desperate need of repair? I go back to my original question while reading through Judges.
Why, when you can just make another?
After all of the mocking and the betrayal by humankind, why on earth would God want to redeem us? There is only one answer for something that seems so senseless.
Love. Radical love that remains regardless of our betrayals. Love that never stops seeking us. Love that defies logic and is so pure in its design that we struggle to believe it. Nothing could be so good, at least not based on our experience. Yet, it is the only possible explanation for such a decision.
Psalm 111:9 He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!
Why would God want to not only restore me, but pay a high price for me? I'm buried in years of paint and dirt, and I am often so broken I cannot even fulfill my original purpose. If I was a table, I would probably be missing a leg and the other three would be questionable. Yet, He would give his very Son as a price, who is perfect?
I am not sure, on this side of heaven, that we can fully understand the amount of love it would take to put such a sequence of events in place. But, I am going to spend my life trying. Its a worthy pursuit, because when someone as powerful as the Creator of the universe sees value in you, a strange thing happens. You start to see value in yourself. Love like this is life-changing.
Redemption changes everything. It was part of His plan all along.
Resurrect:
Not only does God's story include restoration and redemption, but His plans also include living with us for eternity. After our earthly death, God will breathe new life into us. We will get to live restored, redeemed, and resurrected.
He will restore not only us, but all of creation back to its original intention. I like to let my imagination run wild in this area. What will life be like with animals? What was our interaction with them meant to be like? Will there be spiders? Will bugs be colorful on a resurrected earth? Will there be new sounds, new colors, that we've never experienced?
What will life feel like when each day is spent doing work I was designed to do? What will live be like without anxiety, depression, and sadness? Can you even imagine it!
The most exciting part of all of this is that each and every day, we will get to be in the presence of the One who created us. Every day we will know the love of God firsthand. We will be completely healed by His love, and our minds will be absolutely peaceful.
There are times I just long for it. When the days get long and my stress is out of control, I can't help but look forward to the grand finale of God's plan for my life. Yes, I'm excited for heaven, but I'm most excited for Him. To be able to finally be with the One who designed me, with all of my individual traits. He is full of love, and the day will come that we get to be with Him for all of eternity.
What an incredible plan for humanity.
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