Our RestorationSample

Refocused on God’s Big Picture

With a clear perspective of God’s Big Picture, suddenly our world looks different. It no longer appears threatening. Rather, we see it as our place for influence and for purposeful living. People no longer need to be feared or controlled. They are perceived as valued creations of God, to whom His love and redemptive power is to be expressed.

Redemption through Jesus is the restoration of God’s original plan for people. That plan includes four facts. With a clear perception of these facts, the Bible makes sense:

1. God’s creation is the starting point for understanding and for communicating the gospel. The most ennobling and dignifying fact of history is to know that each person is created by God for a divine purpose.

2. Satan’s deception is an essential fact. The calamities, evils, and injustices in our world were not God’s plan. Satan’s cunning deception influenced Adam and Eve to doubt God, separating them from His life and purposes for them.

3. Christ’s substitution is God’s initiative to reverse the human dilemma and is therefore the key to the gospel. Because of His love for us, God came in the Person of Christ to save us from sin and death through His suffering and death in our place.

4. Our restoration is the climax of the gospel. The miraculous truth revealed in the fourth scene of God’s Big Picture is that God restores us to friendship with Him and to purposeful and joyous living, sharing His resurrection life.

When we choose to believe the gospel and receive Jesus Christ by faith, we are instantly released from the slavery of death, and restored to the liberty of life. This miracle, also called the new birth, begins our restoration. Christ’s purpose becomes our purpose. His will becomes our will. His passion and priorities become ours. Our nature is transformed to become like His. Jesus’ peace becomes our peace. His life becomes our life (1 John 4:17).

Faith is necessary for this transformation to occur. Just as trust was required in the beginning, trust is required today. Creation, the fall, and Jesus’ death on the cross are historic events recorded in Scripture. There are myriad proofs of the validity of Scripture and of the truthfulness of the claims of Christ. However, empirical evidence is not enough. Each person must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Don’t delay! God is calling you to discover the wonder of your life as it unfolds and blossoms in His plan.

Lord, I receive by faith the new life that is available to me. I say; “Yes” to God’s Big Picture and see myself in His beautiful plan.

This devotional plan is based on material from God’s Big Picture: Finding Yourself in God’s Plan, by LaDonna Osborn. To learn more about her ministry, please click here.