I enjoy watching car restoration shows. Some take rusty wrecks that are just husks, barely recognizable as a car and turn them into show cars. It doesn’t happen overnight, for some cars it takes years to go from barely there to award winning automobile. The car doesn’t pay the price to be restored, the owner does. Sometimes the cost is over $100,000 for a quality restoration. Even “barn finds”, cars that were stored somewhere and are still in pretty good shape still need a lot of work and cost to get back to show room quality. The thing is, even after restoration those cars will always slowly start to deteriorate. There is nothing the car can do to prevent it; it is helpless. The car always needs someone to keep it looking good.
We are the car. We are rusting hulks without Christ. When we believe, Jesus through the Holy Spirit begins to turn us into shining examples of what God desires all people to be. Jesus paid the price on the cross for our restoration. We do need to practice spiritual disciplines and obey God but even that is impossible for us to do without the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We believe in Christ and he begins the restoration immediately, for the price was paid before we ever believed. It takes time but we will be the people that God desires.
One of the funnier car shows takes complete junk and turns the car into something that runs… mostly. They usually get the car working just enough to go do some silly thing and then they kind of walk away from the car, letting it go back to being a non-working, rusty hulk of a mess. They don’t make the car look good, they barely get the car to run. Jesus Christ is not like that. When we believe and keep our focus on Christ, He works on us to make us better and better. As we let Him drive us around, as we let Him restore us, we will become closer and closer to God and we have the promise that one day, we will be perfect in Him. Let’s Move!
As for God, his way is perfect:
the Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure. -Psalms 18:30-32 (NIV)
