Monday, October 15, 2018
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Our friend is in the flooring business; actually that's wood flooring. He had been tearing the old floor out in this house he was working on, and before he threw it away, he decided to call us and see if we might have any use for it. (That was nice.) Actually, we were pretty excited about his call because we were in the middle of a project where we'd be needing a floor. He said, "I do want you to know it's actually pretty ugly, but it's a good solid maple wood."
Now we got piles and bucketfuls of that wood and our friend was right. It really was pretty ugly. Those old floor boards had several coats of paint on them, they were really dirty, some were gouged out, kind of beat up. Frankly, it looked like it might only be good for firewood. But our friend pointed out that that wood was an inch thick-and he assured us he could sand off all the damage and still have plenty of wood left. And you know what? Eventually I was holding in my hand a sample of what he could do. It was a piece of that old ugly wood that he has restored-and there was no trace of the damage-it was this smooth, beautifully stained piece of wood. The restoration was amazing and I was, you might say, floored!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Damaged Wood Miracle."
Now that wood was ready for the dumpster honestly, until the skilled restorer worked on it. The ugly was gone. It was like new.
That's exactly what the Master Carpenter from Nazareth does with people-people like you and me. We're all damaged wood. We've got layers of dirt and scarring from years of use. But Jesus restores damaged wood.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 5:17. (I love this!) "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" So from the moment you put your life in the hands of Jesus, the Master Restorer, He begins to repair and transform the damage that's been done by years of sinning and being sinned against. We all carry the damage done from our sinning, from mistreatment, from bad choices, maybe from abuse or addiction or anger. Jesus is a Savior for a person who is tired of the guilt, tired of the pain, tired of the burden-maybe somebody like you.
He is more of a Savior than you could ever imagine. In Isaiah 61, He describes the total restoring work He came to do and that He wants to do for you. He said, "The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair" (Isaiah 61:1-3).
Now, here is a Savior who wants to turn your captivity into freedom and your grieving into comfort. He wants to take the ashes of your life and turn them into beauty, the mourning of your life into gladness, and He wants to turn your despair into praise. There is no therapist on earth that can do that, no religion, no self-improvement program. Only the Savior can restore the damage of sin-only Jesus can.
Because of what He did one dark day on an old piece of wood-what one hymn writer described as "the old rugged cross." The Bible says, "He bore our sins in His body on the tree-by His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). He's broken the hold of sin forever-by dying for it-for anyone who trusts Him to be their Savior from their sin.
So the future doesn't have to be more of the past. No, Jesus is waiting right now to begin His restoring miracle, but you have to open up your life to Him. You can tell Him right now where you are, "Jesus, beginning today, I'm Yours."
If you want to belong to Him, our website is a great place for you to go to be able to get this done. It is ANewStory.com.
You've carried the dirt, the scars long enough. It doesn't matter how damaged you are, Jesus can make something beautiful out of your life.