All Things New

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

– Psalm 51:1

Ever had a computer or smartphone that’s infected by a virus or malware? If so, you know that helpless feeling when it crashes, freezes, or slows to a maddening crawl. And soon enough, that once top-of-the-line machine becomes nothing more than an expensive plastic paperweight.

But don’t lose hope. There are reputable companies that can not only clean out such infections, they can also help prevent future problems by fixing unrelated performance issues. So, what was once a dead or balky computer can be restored to a better-than-new condition.

Every Christ-follower for the last 2,000 years can relate to this modern-day illustration. Like a crippled machine made whole again, Christ-followers become born again once they accept Jesus Christ through faith as their Lord and Savior. We start over at that point with a clean slate — and ready to do good works to advance God’s kingdom. Think about it: Everything we’ve done wrong since birth — none of it will be held against us after we leave this life on earth! All the ways we’ve mistreated others, the lies we’ve told, and the potential we’ve wasted over the years … It’s all forgiven because Jesus paid the price by dying for us on the cross. 

Now declared justified in God’s eyes, we can look forward to an eternity of joy with our Creator. But until that day when we meet our Savior face to face, we should ask him to empower us to live restored, fruit-bearing, Spirit-filled lives, which the apostle Paul explains through the New Testament’s Book of Galatians:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Of course, we’re not saved from the punishment we deserve because of any good deeds we might do. If that were the case, it would be possible to earn our way to God’s acceptance. The fact is that our feeble efforts and good intentions are never enough. So, there’s nothing left for us to do except to follow God’s simple plan of salvation — and accept his free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. 

It's through our Savior that we find restoration. And it’s then that all things are new again.