Worth Restoring

I still remember when my best friend in High School called me over to his house to show me this “great” find of a car that he had found.  The car was a 1965 Mustang fastback Shelby.  Hearing this I raced over to his house, he lifted the garage door and my mouth dropped.  What I was lead to believe was that the car was immaculate and beautiful and yet the heap that sat in front of me looked like he had dug it out of someone’s backyard.  It was junk.  This “car” should have been melted and recycled, but instead of saying so I just quietly said, “wow, um, nice, uh, car!?”  For the next three years my friend would work fervently on his new prize, and when it was finished the car was a showstopper, he even won a few best in shows with it.

My friend saw something when I and everyone else simply saw junk.  When everyone else said to give up and sell it to some other poor sap, he refused and kept working.  Through his blood, sweat and tears, he turned something ugly into something beautiful.

That junk car reminds me of how God sees something worth restoring in us.  Even though our sins make us ugly and worthless, Jesus Christ through His blood, sweat, and tears turns me from something ugly into something beautiful, and our prize isn’t just a trophy, its Heaven.

Pastor Steven Naylor

Published in Delta Optimist Aug 21, 2011
Photo from Flickr cc by takomabibelot