For the last two weeks we’ve touched on restoration. This is the main thing God is doing in this age. It incorporates redemption, reconciliation, and in some cases, restitution. We cannot be in unity with God without being united with His purpose in this.

          One of the biggest challenges I’ve had personally while being part of restoration projects is my tendency to limit the power of the cross to redeem and restore. This tendency has almost always been the result of my personal disgust with certain sins or sometimes just outright shock. Even so, as long as I have been willing to follow the Lord in this, my heart and understanding have been stretched, and I’ve gained a new level of trust in the power of the cross, God’s grace, and His mercy. 

           I’ve come to believe that as deep as the devil gets into someone’s life, once he is removed, that is how deep God can fill them. By this their weaknesses are turned to strengths. When we begin to see this, we start to see things that might otherwise offend us as opportunities to see the power of God’s grace work. However, this has been a long and hard process for me, and I am still often challenged by God’s mercy. So I understand why some just can’t go there yet, and I have empathy for them as well. 

         Though I have been involved in some public restoration projects, buildings, and people, I still do not claim to be very good at it. Because I learned so much by restoring The Heritage Grand Hotel and Conference Center, I would like to have known what I do now when we started, as I think I could have done a much better job. With every person we’ve worked with, I think the same thing. However, no one starts out mature in anything; we mature by experience. I think I am maturing in this, but I still have a long way to go.

         Sometimes I think how great the church would be now if Jesus had just stayed here after His resurrection and led the church Himself. Think about the challenge the converts on the Day of Pentecost faced when they looked at their leaders. “Weren’t those the very ones who denied the Lord, who fled from Him when He needed His friends most?” they likely thought. Their leaders, and indeed the most important leaders in the church age, were far from perfect when they started leading and very likely were not perfect until they ended their course. They too made a lot of mistakes along the way, but they remained correctable, so they and we have been able to learn from those mistakes. 

         It is easy to wonder if the main reason the Lord did not take His authority over the earth immediately after His resurrection is that this entire church age is just an opportunity for His people to learn His ways, and much of that learning was to come from making mistakes. This can be an appalling thought until we grasp God’s heart for restoration. I don’t think God wanted Adam and Eve to sin, but when they did, it was an opportunity for the whole creation to see a depth of His love and patience on a new level. It is the same with our sins and mistakes.

         It is better not to fall, but those who are forgiven much tend to love more because they experience more of His love. Only we must not fall to the ultimate presumption that Paul warned about: Some foolishly thought they should sin so that they could experience more of God’s grace. Those who give in to that perdition can be very close to being incorrigible. Even so, our shortcomings can be opportunities to reveal the depth of God’s love that so motivates His gifts of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. 

        The point is, we must not continue to condemn ourselves or others for sin or mistakes, but rather use them to reveal God’s heart. This also requires the revelation that His heart for us will not leave us in our sin, but the grace of His cross includes the power to overcome sin. Therefore, there must be a revelation of what sin is, for there to be the repentance that releases His grace.

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This is a great testimony by the current NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=15990#