Jesus Ran the Restore Disk…

“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.”
1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)

We have a laptop which somehow got corrupted and after trying everything, the only option left was to restore it to its factory settings and start all over again. However, before we could restore the laptop, the good files had to be removed in safe mode, otherwise they would be destroyed. It’s amazing the information that accumulates over the years. Photos, music files, an archive of old sermons, all sorts of things.

While removing the data it got me thinking—humanity, yes all of us, are like the laptop. Although there are lots of good things, we have a fundamental problem and need restoration. The Bible talks about sin as falling short or missing the mark. 1 John 3:4 talks of sin being the transgression of the law. Israel was given ten commandments in Exodus 20, and in Mark 12:30-31 Jesus boiled them down to two on which they all hang—Love God and Love Your Neighbour.

You may be thinking that you’re O.K. But in Matthew 5 Jesus turned everything on its head by saying that if you even think about sinning you have done so in your heart so you are guilty. Therefore everyone has a problem that needs fixing! There are many good people in the world who do charitable things for others, however all are guilty of sin. Romans 3:23-24 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

The laptop couldn’t fix itself—it needed intervention to restore it. No matter how many good photos and sermons were on it, unless the problem was removed the laptop was dead, and the same was true of humanity.The good news is that God has solved the problem. Jesus Christ has intervened for us and has restored the relationship between humanity and God, by paying the penalty for sin, and therefore removing it from the system. If we read Ephesians 2:1-2, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” so, “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Through Jesus’ intervention we are new creations transformed by Grace. We don’t deserve life, but that is what God has given us. The good news is that Jesus has restored us so God sees only the good—the bad has been destroyed and we have the assurance that God’s love is greater than our sin.

Prayer
Thank you, God, for restoring us through Jesus and giving us new life. A
men

Study by Gary Glenister

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About the Author:
Gary Glenister is an Elder for the Cardiff & Llanelli congregations of Grace Communion International in South Wales (known locally as Welcome Christian Fellowship), mainly serving the Llanelli church plant.
Gary also posts the Day by Day studies on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to support the social media ministry please “Like” the page on Facebook GCIdaybyday https://www.facebook.com/GCIdaybyday or “Follow” on Twitter @GCIdaybyday https://twitter.com/gcidaybyday and check out the posts daily. If you think the post would help others, please like and share it so that it is more visible to others.

Local Congregation:
Welcome Christian Fellowship – Llanelli
Trallwm Hall
Amanwy
Llwynhendy
Llanelli SA14 9AH

Meeting Time:
Sunday 11am

Local Congregational Contact:
Gary Glenister
Phone: 07811-71028207811-710282
Local congregations website: www.llanelli.church
Email: gary_llanelli@hotmail.com