- Lesson 1 in the Connect360 unit “The Beauty of Restoration: The Final Days of Jesus” focuses on John 18:15-18, 25-27.
Have you ever noticed that our spiritual walk is never “as the crow flies,” an idiom used in measurements for the shortest distance between two points? When we look at our route on a GPS map, we sometimes must travel north or south, and sometimes even west, in order to get to our destination in the east.
Using another illustration, if we charted our spiritual journey, it might look like a stock market graph. We have daily, hourly or even more frequent fluctuations up and down in our journey with our Lord, but generally, we have periods of growth, both forward and backward.
Hopefully, our growth going forward outpaces our steps of going backward. In this study of restoration, we see that all of us can relate with the following passages from John. Even more than that, we will see Jesus knows and expects us to have ups and downs in our spiritual walk, and with our relationships with others. Even in his own earthly ministry, Christ experienced times of great success, lackluster results, and times when he simply took time to rest, reflect and grow closer to his heavenly Father in prayer.
Restoration. By definition restoration means the act of returning something to a former owner, place or condition. To the object of the fallen state, being restored means to be returned to an original state. In this light, thank God; we as a royal priesthood, and holy nation have been restored (1 Peter 2:9-10). Thank God, he gives us chance, after chance, after chance to get it right. From Peter’s frail view of forgiveness being seven times (Matthew 18:21), to fully understanding that God confirms to us his grace toward our forgiveness, and our ultimate restoration is uncountable, unimaginable and incomprehensible. God has shown us through the love of Christ that the well of his grace never runs dry, and there is always another chance for a repentant soul to come back into proper fellowship with God.
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