Tony Elder, Author/Pastor

Recently several of us in our congregation took on the maintenance project of doing some refinishing work on the front doors of our church building. Those wooden structures had become considerably weathered over time due to receiving a daily beating from the evening sun, as well as the occasional storm whose strong winds could blow a driving rain up under the porch. That combination of moisture and heat had left the doors rough and worn.

Restoring those doors involved a process of sanding them down, applying a fresh coat of stain, and finally adding a protectant sealant which left them with a glossy finish. It didn’t happen at one time or in one day. We took a break after the tiring job of sanding was completed. We let the stain soak in and dry for a period of time before applying the sealant. Along the way, the doors still looked rough and incomplete. However, when the job was finished, it was a big improvement over their previous condition.

We are all in need of restoration. Sin has robbed us of the original beauty with which we were created. We need our relationship with God restored through faith in Jesus and in His sacrificial death as the means by which forgiveness and cleansing have been provided for us. But even after we have experienced that initial transformation, we are still a work in progress. We can still find ourselves getting beaten down by the heat emanating from the evil world around us or even from our own misguided desires from within us. And while God is our shelter in the storms, those problems and challenges can take their toil on our physical and spiritual strength. We are often in need of the reminder from the familiar psalm that the Lord is our shepherd and “He restores our soul” (Psalm 23:3). We are in regular need of His restoration.

We still have our tough spots that need to be smoothed out. It can be painful as the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and exposes our faults, but we need to let Him work. We may be well-aware that we still have a long way to go to measure up to the fullness of the image of Jesus, but we need to yield to the Lord as He keeps changing us. He doesn’t do it all at once. He is continuing to apply coat after coat of those Christlike qualities in our lives, such as love, self-control, patience, and faithfulness. He may need to apply several coats of the same quality over a period of time to get it to sink in. Let’s be receptive, not get discouraged, and let Him work. Meanwhile, He is also putting the finishing touches on us. He is making us stronger and stronger, so that we don’t get so easily beaten down and weathered by our world or by those storms in the future. He is enabling us to better stand against those harsh elements. And He is also making us shinier as we better reflect His light that lives within us.

It can be frustrating when we see ourselves still falling short of what we know God intends for us to be. However, let’s keep in mind that He isn’t finished with us yet. We are still a work in progress. Let’s not hinder what He is doing but cooperate with Him. And let’s trust what the Bible says: “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Thank the Lord for the work He has begun in us. Now let’s trust Him to finish the job.