Dear Friends,
One of the joys of sharing Leadership Thoughts is that I get to
connect with so many of you through these daily messages. I love hearing from
you, especially when you share perspectives on the subjects about which I have
written. Yesterday, I heard from a couple of readers regarding yesterday's
message on integrity. I made the comment that "once trust is broken,
it is next to impossible for it to be restored.' I certainly didn’t
mean to imply there is no hope for failed people for as my reader friend pointed
out “there are more examples in the Bible of God using failed people than
people who avoid failings.”
God is in the business of taking failed people, just like you
and me, flawed and broken. and restoring them to newness of life. The Bible is
filled with such examples.
The Apostle Paul is one of the greatest examples of God’s
transforming power to change a heart of hate (once rounding up
believers to be persecuted and killed) to a heart of love that sought to rescue
and restore those he once hated.
The first verse I learned as a new believer was 1 Cor. 5:17: “If
anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; the new has
come." God specializes in making old things new. He is in the redesign
business, fashioning new life out of brokenness.
In 1962 God forever changed my heart and transformed my life, and
I know He has done the same for many of you as well. Our God is a ‘life
changer, and no matter how hopeless your life may seem to be, He will “make
beauty out of ashes."
For many years Streams in the Desert, was my ‘go to’
spiritual resource for devotional reading. Edited by L.B, Cowman, it is a
spiritual classic filled with encouraging stories and writings from those who
have journeyed the road of spiritual faith. I quote from the March15th
devotional (p.115-16) containing the following quote from J. R. Miller.
“Christ is building his Kingdom with the broken things of earth.
People desire only the strong, successful, victorious, and broken things of
life to build their kingdoms, but God is the God of the unsuccessful- the God
of those who have failed. Heaven is being filled with earth's broken lives, and
there is no bruised reed (Isaiah 42: 3) that Christ cannot take and restore to
a glorious place of blessing and beauty. He can take a life crushed by pain or
sorrow and make it a harp whose music will be total praise. He can lift earth
saddest failures up to heaven’s glory.”
Yes, how true it that “through waves, and clouds, and storms He
gently clears the way.”
God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He will redeem
your failures, restore your brokenness, and renew your hopes and dreams for a
new and changed life. Just yield your life to Him, trust in His power to change
your heart and mold you into a glorious new creation. He will do it because He
loves you, and He wants the best of everything for you. He is a Promise Maker,
and a Promise Keeper, and He will keep His promise to give you victory, both in
this life and in the life to come.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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