Being Restored to God

     “Restore us to yourself, O Lord,

               that we may be restored; renew our

              days of old…”  Lamentations 5:21

Dear Restored Christians: 

                    This past month, a recent office and hallway restoration was completed that began back in June. To me this renovation took much longer than we first thought it would. The six weeks they were working on the offices and the hallways were six weeks we couldn’t be in our offices, doing our work in the usual way. We had to avoid the paint, the smells and the mess. All our office supplies, books, files, cabinets and desks had to be moved and rearranged making it very difficult to find anything. For six weeks we wondered if they would ever get the work done.

                    But on the other hand, the hallway and the offices had taken sixty years to get to their level of condition. That is three thousand, one hundred and twenty weeks. So what really is six weeks compared to that long of time? 

The problem was that we had become accustomed to the old wall paint, and the bad rugs, and old furniture. It was just what we were used to in the offices and in our daily routine. We don’t see or want to acknowledge the problems or the disrepair that needed fixed.

Sometimes faith can just be like the renovations of our offices. We think we have a good solid faith foundation. We had gone to Sunday school; okay it was thirty, forty or sixty years ago and it is hard to remember now. We think we have a good prayer life, but if you take out the prayers you hear in church and the prayers said at yellow lights or other immediate needed times, how much daily conversation do you really have with God? We think we put in a good worship hour each week and that’s enough, but in our total week what really is one hour of time devoted to God out of one hundred and sixty-seven other hours?

Perhaps it is time to renovate your faith life: to begin to join a Bible study; to get involved more with our ministries; to volunteer more with the community needs like Hanover Council of Churches, PAL, or Ruth’s Harvest; to talk with God more on a routine practice of meditative prayer and scripture reading. Perhaps setting aside a little bit of time to renew your faith isn’t such a bad thing.

        In the end the offices look much better than they have in years. New paint, floors, decorations and furniture has helped brighten them up and make them more usable. It is a wonderful gift that has been appreciated greatly. Let us do the same with our souls. The writer of Lamentations asked that the Lord may restore them to him, so that in him they may find renewal and be strengthened once again. May we ask for this same renewal seeking the restoration of our faith to God so that we may continue to grow in faith and devotion.

        May you start a renewal project of your souls this month. It doesn’t matter how long it takes – the important part is that you begin. 

                                                                                                                                    In the Peace and Grace of God,                

                                                                                                                                         Pastor Kirk Griffin