Fully Restored

I'm in the middle of trying to wipe and restore a phone. It's so much fun...

But, it reminds me of how we misunderstand forgiveness. In talking with people over the years it seems many see forgiveness from God as simply wiping the slate clean. The problem is, it's so much more.

Imagine I gave you a brand new phone. But not just any phone. It was personally set up by me. I put hundreds of dollars of the best apps possible on it. I went and put your pictures and videos on the phone. I downloaded (legally) all your favorite songs and movies onto the phone.

Then it gets a virus.

Your phone needs to be wiped. So you wipe the phone. It's back to factory settings.

Yes, the virus is gone, but that's not true forgiveness. The phone needs to be restored.

After the virus I restore your phone back to all it's former glory. It has all the apps, videos, pictures, songs, everything back on it that it once had. That's proper restoration.

When we are forgiven by Christ we are not set back to zero. We are not factory restored. We are put back to where God views us, as His child, His spirit living within us, all the perks that come with being His favorite. We are restored back to where we were before sin entered.

If we understood that better, we'd probably live differently, even after we've been forgiven. This is why we need to know Jesus and love God so much more every day. It helps us realize just what we have been restored to, and how we can grow even more in our relationship with Christ.

Christ isn't just offering forgiveness, He wants to restore you.

Now to do the same to this phone...

T