And the God of all grace, who called You to His eternal glory
in Christ, after you have suffered a little while,
will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
(Peter 5:10)
Have you ever seen an art restorer work on a valuable work of art? They will spend many hours painstakingly and gently using their talents to bring the masterpiece back to its original beauty. No detail escapes them; the subtle nuances of shading, the angle at which the brush was held while performing a single stroke, the curve that casts the shadow of mystery. Each and every element is meticulously studied and refreshed. The restorer is attempting to embody the very artist himself. But alas, he is not the artist and his work, while it may be exemplary, will always fall short of the original.
Jesus is the Restorer of our Souls. From the time we enter this world, our souls are shaped by the environment around us and not always in a positive way. We end up with souls that are bruised, banged, pierced, scarred and mangled. But when Jesus enters our hearts, He begins the meticulous restoration process of returning us to the original masterpiece we were created to be. He gently scrapes away the corrosion that has built up over the years. He bandages the open wounds and erases the ghastly scars. He refreshes the color and fills in the lines that have faded with time. And when He has completed His work, He sits back, smiles, and returns us to our place in the gallery of life and we carry on renewed and refreshed. Of course, our souls will endure more trauma and require more work by the Master Artist, but He will gladly and patiently repeat the work until He takes us home and we are fully transformed into the perfect masterpieces He designed us to be, our souls no longer vulnerable to the pain and brutality of this world.
Thank you, Lord, for restoring our souls. Show us how to reach out to those damaged souls who are in such great need of Your restoration.
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