November was a tough month for our home computer. I won’t bore you with the details. The pattern of things was simple: crash, reboot, crash, reboot, crash, etc. We finally had to face the dreaded word that no home-pc user wants to hear … reformat. Just typing it gives me the chills. Hearing that word sets off a chain of questions. What will I lose? Can I still move my documents and photos to a safe place? How long will it be before I have the machine back to the way it was before? Reformatting is the last option in any problem because it wipes the disk clean – back to factory settings. Problems are solved but anything not backed up is lost forever.
God’s plan to save souls is like a hard disk reformatting. God is our manufacturer and He wants to wipe the slate clean. Sin infects us worse than any computer virus. Our hearts become filled with malware – malcontent, malice, malefaction. Satan’s Trojan horses ensnare our hearts and open us to his deceitful attacks. Our errors compound into new, more complex failures and the result is a stagnant life. A computer full of digital junk is useless … a life full of spiritual junk is ruined. Only God can restore the system of the human heart.
When God offers the plan for restoration, a fear creeps up within us. We ask similar questions to the ones above. If He wipes the slate clean, what will I lose? Can I hang on to some of this old life and bring it back when I want to? What will be left of me when God removes the sin in my life? I know of several people who could not see past these fears. They worried that a full return to God would mean the end of a fun, exciting life. There were too many things they wanted to do in the world before “settling down” to God’s way.
The restoration that God offers is the beginning of an abundant life (John 10:10). God wants us to make a clean break with sin – leaving the old you behind in the waters of baptism (Romans 6:2-3). But the removal of sin is only the beginning. Redeemed and restored, we enter into the exciting life of service to God. We live to please Him and to connect to other people in love. Where sin brought alienation and frustration, God brings hope, life, and fellowship. Set aside whatever fears have held you back and take God up on His offer of full restoration. No disks required.