I enjoy the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Each week, the show tells the story of a family whose house is in shambles. It then follows a crew and community who come to the family’s rescue, rebuilding their humble home beyond their wildest dreams.
It’s a tearjerker scene when the family returns from a short vacation to view their new digs. The large group of people who have been working on their behalf are gathered outside the home to welcome them back. Then, with the family positioned behind a large bus, the crowd yells in unison, “Bus driver—move that bus!” As it pulls forward, the sight of their new home overwhelms the family with emotion.
Perhaps the reason the family’s reaction stirs our hearts so deeply is that it speaks to a deeper restoration we all “groan” and “long for” (Romans 8:23-24). Part of the good news of Christianity is that God is in the business of restoration! Along with being rescued from the penalty of our sins (1 Thessalonians 1:10), salvation through Jesus is also about living a “new life” today—experiencing the power of His resurrection (Romans 6:4). And it only gets better! Believers can also look forward to the day when Jesus returns and—once and for all—restores life to the way it was originally meant to be before sin and death entered the world. He says, “Look, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5).
Today, life is still hard—at times extremely difficult for those of us who follow Jesus. His words tell us He is aware of our challenges: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows” (John 16:33). Still, even in a broken and hostile world, there are new beginnings as we plug into the process of living our life through Him (1 John 4:9).
More:
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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What extreme makeover do you need God to begin in your life? What does it mean for you to know He will one day make “everything new”?
myron on July 2, 2009 at 8:04 am
i too am trying to remove some of my old
junk out of my live
this computer thing is new to me but with
the help of holy goest i can be a computer
whiz and walk in the light everyday
gregvarner on July 2, 2009 at 11:26 am
The thing that surprises me about that show is how they completely obliterate the old house. I wonder how many of us would scramble to gather keepsakes of the old structure. That’s what I see myself doing with the Lord’s makeover in me. Rather than trusting him to smash the old and resurrect a new structure, I begin my finite human negotiations–trying to hold on to things from the past. Even though I see them as rotten or weak, I pathetically hold on.
I want to allow myself to realize that Jesus sees me as whole and as renewed. His sacrifice is poured out for me. And while the bus keeps trying to move away, I’m fixated on my dog vomit to which I keep returning.
How to we let go? How do we really (not just in word or intent) release all of our old self to the wrecking ball of the Lord’s renewal?
jamiesreid on July 2, 2009 at 2:23 pm
hi greg
i can understand all that you are saying. i am finding that it is indeed a painful process but we must have faith that God is faithful. Reading the faith stories of the old testament help me and comfort me through out this journey. Seeing that others like Abraham and Jacob and David had a heart for God yet still had to go through this same process. And they were kept by God. So dear brother I pray that you continue to abound in the grace of God and never let go.
2 Corinthians 12:9
msroby on July 8, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I so long for the good Lord to “Move That Bus” for me. For now and while on this earth I have been baptised and all was new, except for this world. It stayed the same. But like I know that Jesus is preparing me a room as we speak. When he moves that bus out of the way for all to be seen, well it will be all that He promised it would be, but not seeing it as of yet, give antisipation for what is to come.
I cry watching this show and seeing the people work and give their hearts to help just helps keep the bad news in the paper a little less and the hope of love in the world a little more.
Thanks for your story. It is truely an inspirational one for us all to follow without having to have a TV show to do it.
God Bless you,
Amen.