You are not beyond repair

Back in 1972 there was an incident in the Vatican that sent shock waves through the art world. A man went berserk with a hammer and severely damaged a priceless marble sculpture called the Pieta.

The Pieta depicts the Virgin Mary supporting the dead body of her Son, the Lord Jesus, and was sculpted by the famous Michelangelo. Because of its value barriers had been placed around the Pieta for its protection but they were unable to prevent the man with the hammer from breaking through. He began to strike the sculpture violently and before he could be restrained he damaged it so badly that there was a question as to whether it could ever be repaired. Much time was spent on it, however, and with complete success. The Pieta was restored, and to such an extent that scarcely any but the most knowledgeable are able to tell that it was ever damaged.

Turning now to ourselves, I want to go back for a moment to the very beginning of human history, when our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created by God. With infinitely greater skill than that of a Michelangelo, God crafted two human beings that were utterly without flaw. In their relationship with each other, for example, there was perfect harmony. So, too, in their relationship with God. And all was well inside: no guilty consciences; no troublesome memories of bad things said and done; no wicked hearts. Our first parents were just what their Creator wanted them to be and happy into the bargain!

And then it all went terribly wrong. Adam and Eve sinned against the God who had been so good to them and the result was ruin – ruin that has spread to all their descendants. We are not what we were at the first! Like Michelangelo’s Pieta we have been severely damaged, and the evidence is there on every hand: broken relationships; terrorism and war; the crimes of which we constantly hear; our sense of guilt; our susceptibility to sickness and disease; our utter failure to live up to God’s high standards; our consequent alienation from God. Things are so different from what they were at the beginning!

But that isn’t the end of the story. Like the Pieta we have not been damaged beyond recovery. The God who made us has begun a program of restoration and those who are truly Christians are enjoying the benefit of it. God is in the process of re-making them. And when He is finished – and the Bible assures us that one day He will be finished – they will be without flaw or blemish: perfectly restored!

And God’s good news is this – He is willing to restore anyone. No one has been so badly damaged by sin as to be beyond repair. If in our need we earnestly seek His mercy through Jesus Christ, he will get to work in our lives and will carry the work on until the restoration is complete.

David Campbell
Grace Baptist Church
777 W North Street
Carlisle, PA 17013