Remaking the old to be new again

We've been doing some repainting around the house to update the walls with some new colors, painting some furniture and touching up the trim. Certainly it's nothing that will earn a cover spot of a designing magazine, just lots of small things that make a big impact. It's amazing the difference that one gallon of paint can make in the feel of a room. All of a sudden what felt old and worn looks fresh and new.

Throughout the Scriptures the Lord takes actions and decisive steps to remake things. He initiates, he re-creates. The three vital images of Christianity -- the cross, baptism and the Lord's Supper -- are all pictures of re-creation. In the cross, death creates life. In baptisms, the old self dies and is buried in order for the new creation to walk forth. The Lord's Supper, the final meal ushered a new covenant. Embracing the old and transforming it to the new.

Too many people I meet are settled into a pattern, often a destructive pattern, of who they are. "This is who I am. I will never be any different no matter how hard I try." Exactly. No matter how hard you try, nothing will change. But God is the remaker. Through him all things can become new.

We also have a couple of rooms in our house that were painted just a couple of years ago. When they were freshly painted, they had a "wow" factor. They still look nice. The color scheme is still in style. Furnishings are up-to-date. Yet somehow they have gone from "wow" to familiar. The walls show a few nicks and some places where time mixed with wear and tear has rubbed the paint off. Kind of like some other things I know.

When God remakes he just doesn't cover up the trouble spots in hopes that no one will notice. He spotlights the trouble spots to show his power. In and through our weaknesses he demonstrates his incredible transforming power.

He can take our hearts and our souls, which over time have been rubbed on, worn out, nicked and become resistant to beating passionately for anything. He can make those changes. He can make things new. Like those old rooms God can change the dull, worn out and tired making them fresh, bright and vibrant.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.