While babysitting Ava and Emma recently, Emma trotted into the living room bearing two dolls—and an announcement: “This is Anna and Elsa—but they lost their legs.”
It was hard not to giggle at how this four-year-old crammed facts and fate into one tragic sentence. However, upon further examination, Emma's assessment proved reliable. The lead characters of Disney's Frozen franchise were decked out in their movie finest—but lacked legs. All of them.
The sight of the dolls’ (plastic) smiles, despite their mangled condition, felt odd. At my wife Diana’s encouragement, the girls dug through their dolly collection and found some of the missing limbs, which Diana lovingly restored. Alas, one doll is still missing a leg. Yet there’s something profound—even divine—about restoration, even when it’s just a doll getting her leg back.
When Jesus came to earth, His signature was restoration: healing the lame, the blind, and the deaf. But His mission was more sweeping and grander than that.
Christ came to restore our souls by offering forgiveness of our wrongdoing through His death on the cross. He gave us a lifetime Coach in the Holy Spirit who counsels, corrects, and—when needed—convicts us. But more than that, He promises us eternal life with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. The ultimate restoration.
Have you let Jesus restore you?
It's His Christmas gift to you—so what are you waiting for?
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool." -Isaiah 1:18
