The Restoration Man

In Japanese culture, there is an ancient art form called Kintsukori or kintsugi. This is where a broken vessel is put back together with a colourful lacquer or a precious metal, normally gold. A successful piece of art is where the finished work shows that the piece of pottery is even more beautiful for having been broken and put back together. The literal definition of the term for this art form is to “repair with gold“.

I was thinking about this recently and realised that this is what Jesus does. He takes the broken pieces of our hearts and lives and puts them back together in such a way that our lives are more beautiful than before. Our brokenness lets more of His light and glory shine through. More of His gold show.

He is the true ‘Restoration Man‘.

When He touches our lives, people still see the cracks and the brokenness, but they also see where and how our wonderful Creator has lovingly and carefully restored us and brought our lives back together.

I’m sure that if we all shared our stories of how God has restored us in so many ways, it would be a real encouragement.

We’d see the gold of His love and glory shining through.

“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

In Psalm 23, David declares that it is God who ‘restores‘ his soul, and in Psalm 5 he declares “Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart.” David recognised that only God had the power to restore him. Only his Saviour could mend the broken pieces of his life.

God doesn’t call us because we have it all-together, but rather because we are His and as a good Father, He wants to be in every part of our lives and bring the healing and restoration that only He can bring. We cannot fix our hearts. A.W.Tozer in his book ‘The Pursuit of God’ says “The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.” The Apostle Paul puts it this way – “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.” – Phil 2:12-13

So this year, where there are broken pieces in your hearts and lives; like King David, give God your heart and all the broken pieces and you’ll be amazed at the restoration that He does.

Also, please continue to pray for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ, that God would use this ministry to bring life, healing and restoration to many young people in North Wales; especially at the start of 2018. Let’s be amazing at how good our God is.

Be blessed!