First, everything needs to be restored (set right)!

This Wednesday morning, while meditating on Matthew 17, I wrote a short meditation titled, ‘Like John the Baptist, the Lord’s Servant Who Prepares for the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ Sets Everything Right’: ‘Like John the Baptist, the Lord’s Servant Who Prepares for the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ Sets Everything Right.  However, the hypocrites, like the Pharisees, who stubbornly refuse to be set right will persecute that servant.  Therefore, the Lord’s Servant Who Prepares for the Second Coming of Jesus will suffer (Reference: Matthew 17:11-13).’  When I reflected on this short meditation, I came to the thought that ‘as a servant of the Lord, I must first ‘set everything right’ in preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus.  While doing so, I thought, ‘The Lord has called me and anointed me as His servant (pastor), so what is it that the Lord wants to restore (set right)?’  I hope that I can organize my thoughts by writing them down as they come to mind:

1. First of all, I think the Lord wants to restore (set right) me first. And the most urgent thing for the Lord to restore me is repentance.  The reason is that there is no restoration without repentance.  The most urgent things I need to repent of are my stubborn sin of disobeying God’s word and my hypocrisy.  “Hover o'er me, Holy Spirit, Bathe my trembling heart and brow; Fill me with Thy hallowed presence, Come, O come and fill me now.  Fill me now, fill me now, Jesus, come and fill me now; Fill me with Thy hallowed presence; Come, O come and fill me now” (Hymn, “Hover O’er  me, Holy Spirit,” verse 1 and chorus).
2. In the midst of all this, I believe that the one whom the Lord wants to restore (set right) through me is my family. As the head of the family, I must repent, be restored and change through God’s grace, and raise my beloved wife and children whom God has given me as a gift of grace (Ephesians 5:29; 6:4).  I believe that I must raise them with the word of God, not only teaching them the right way with my lips (Matthew 21:32), but also setting an example and exerting a good influence through my righteous life [living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27)].  Therefore, I and all my family members pray that we may walk the right path that the Lord walked and become people who give up our lives for Jesus and the gospel (Mark 8:35).
3. The ultimate goal of my own restoration and my family’s restoration is the restoration of the Lord’s church. Since the Lord, the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18), promised to establish the Lord’s church (Matthew 16:18), I believe that my family, myself, and all church members should pray for the restoration of the church we each serve by believing in this promise of the Lord and long for the work of the Holy Spirit’s repentance.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will not only break and melt our stubborn hearts as a church with His words like a hammer and fire (Jeremiah 23:29), but also pierce our conscience (heart) (1 Samuel 24:5; 2 Samuel 24:10) with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), expose our sins (Ephesians 5:11), and make us confess our sins (1 John 1:9).  And let us no longer conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and pray that we may fulfill the role of light and salt in this world (Matthew 5:13-16).