Have you ever started a home repair project? Do you remember the feelings of exhilaration as you drew up the plans, or how you couldn’t wait to tear down that first cabinet or put the first strokes of a new paint color on the wall? Yeah, most of us have been there.
I remember one of the first home improvement projects I ever undertook was redoing some kitchen cabinets in our home. Kimberly and I had decided to take down a set of cabinets that interrupted site lines into the kitchen in our old house. Rather than hire someone to do the work for us, I decided to tackle this project on my own. Boy, was that a mistake. I lacked the skill and tools to do the job correctly. Though I was able to demolish a poor unsuspecting cabinet with ease, I was unable to rebuild it into anything beautiful or useable on my own. I realized my limits and cried out to a skilled friend who helped me correct my errors and build the cabinet system we desired.
I share this story with you today because our home is not the only thing we want to renovate. As followers of Jesus Christ, we all have received His Word through the Bible and have a new desires to see our lives remodeled in His image. With great gusto and enthusiasm, most of us have left church camp, a worship service, or a quiet time committed to life change. After a period of time, however, we find ourselves stuck in the same patterns of disobedience and destruction. We need help if we are ever to see our lives evoke their true beauty and be used in God’s plans. Realizing our limits, we must cry out to our Savior — the most skilled Friend — to do through us what we are unable to do on our own. We need His work to sanctify us, to make us holy.
When we cry out, Jesus responds. In fact, it is exactly what He WANTS to do. He is responsive to our cries for help and comes with the skill and knowledge necessary to perfect us in grace. How does He do this? We will see that this Sunday at Wildwood Community Church as we continue our sermon series, “Spiritual Life,” together in our 8:15, 9:30 and 11:00 service. This week we will be in Romans 8:1-11 together. We hope to see you there!