All Your Heart, All Your Soul: The Work of Restoration and Why it Matters
Part Three: Our Restorer
A Little Recap of All Your Heart So Far–
Restoration (wholeness) is the road to loving the Lord with all our hearts. It’s a big, biblical, glorious deal. It begins at salvation when we are turned from sin back to righteousness through Jesus. Then, it is a day-to-day encounter as we go from infancy in Christ to maturity in Christ. Everyone experiences brokenness but God graciously offers to restore us. Willingness (the desire and humility needed) to let the Holy Spirit reveal the brokenness and lead us in the way of everlasting is a must. It’s our choice to surrender. To love the Lord with all hearts is the goal, and the only possible way to do that is to be restored by the Lord. He makes a way, lets turn towards it.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:34-40
This is how they will know you are my disciples, that you loved one another. John 13:34-35
We are looking at Jesus: who he is, what he does, and why it is the cornerstone of restoration. It’s so good. I love talking about Jesus. But I want to talk about the word commandment first. It will aid us in today’s segment.
Our culture, particularly the West, is quick to reject any notion of servanthood and has an aversion to understanding rules that don’t serve personal agendas. We live in a self-centered, rebellious culture, and it is contrary to the Kingdom of God. That makes words like commandment and obedience easily misunderstood. Let’s get to the root of the word. The Greek definition of commandment is precept which means “the way of something or the way something is done.”
The precepts, the ways of the kingdom of God, are set by the king. They are not tyrannical or in a dictatorship style. They are drawn by Jesus, who loves in such a way that it draws a boundary line for us. He would never shortchange us on his love. He would also never let us determine the boundaries of his love. They are set, and are wide and high and deep (Ephesians 3:14-21) because that’s who he is—every aspect of his nature.
God’s love for us is not only the precept for the kingdom, it is the driving force that turns us back around. Restoration is the road to loving God with all our hearts and loving others the same way. We belong in the kingdom of God. That’s the whole point. Jesus, our Restorer, has assured the way to living within the way.
It has been helpful for me to see God’s commandments as invitations to dwell within the parameters of kingdom life. (I talk about this at length in Not As Man Sees.) Are we forced to stay within their safety? No. We can opt out. Of course, we would be forfeiting all its riches. Choose you this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15).
I hope you can see that I’m not watering down the commandment by viewing it as an invitation. Full maturity in Christ looks like Jesus. That’s not diluted, it’s holy. I say invitation because it emphasizes the choice we have to pursue God or not. Grace gives us a leg up, but the choice has to be ours. It’s our privilege as God’s kids and disciples to follow where he leads. We have feet, hinds feet for the kingdom’s way. And we will need them because he leads us further and further into his heart, into his likeness, into holiness. The way gets narrower with each step (Matthew 7:13-14). But it’s an incredible journey!
I wanted to start there because to be holy is to be complete. When God asks us to love him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength, he is asking us to love him the way he loves us. Completely. Restored. Turned. Why is living with holy parameters so important? Here are three reasons, but keep asking God for more.
- We are transformed. This commandment overcomes the culture of our day by holding us to the King’s way. It’s victory. By living within holy parameters, we become holy, too.
- We are healed. There is healing from the breaches in our lives. Whether it be sin, illness, tragedy, trauma, or any combination of those things, we need to be restored. We desperately need to experience who God is, his way, and his effect on our lives.
- It’s better. As David writes, Better is one day with the Lord than a thousand elsewhere Psalm 84.
The point of this segment in the series is to look at the one who restores us. Trusting Jesus to restore or turn us around is founded on who he is and the way he makes for us by his nature.
Let’s look at these handful of verses. They will remind us why God is trustworthy.
He Finishes What He Starts.
To be holy is to be complete, and his restorative work in us will be thorough.
Jeremiah 33:2-3.
Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
He Leads Us.
He is a good shepherd. He knows every inch of the kingdom. He is the way.
Psalm 23
The Lord is our shepherd…he restores our souls
John 10:10-11
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He Is The Vine.
The branches (us) shoot forth from the vine. All life flows from there. Branches have no other life source. Likewise, we are created to have no other life source than God and what he has provided—what is flowing from him. When we abide in that manner, we can love him with all we have.
John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
His Kingdom Cannot Be Shaken.
Our brokenness will shake, but not the king, his kingdom, nor his word, or the life we have in him.
Hebrews 12:25-28
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
1 Peter 1:22-25
…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…
He Gave Himself For Us.
This is a life-long prayer of mine as with many of you. The last part is a case in point for how we are able to love him with all our hearts. How? To be crucified with him. It’s no longer our life but Christ who lives in us. He gave himself for us because he loves us. That’s the door to the kingdom. His love for us is what makes us whole and able to love him in the same way.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
He Is Above It All.
Paul says it like this.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
I’m convinced that God delights in restoring every part of us—heart, soul, mind, and strength. If I’m understanding the Bible, the whole point is to be with him forever, to be a resting place for him. It starts now, and restoration is a must to be his home. He can’t live in brokenness—he is holy. But he loves—longs—to take our brokenness and turn it, to restore us to kingdom ways where his life can flow unhindered. Can you imagine what that’s like? I’m undone at the idea, and I feel like I’m only ankle deep in it. God is our restorer and ever faithful to complete his work in us.
Brave Sparrow 