Refinishing Furniture or Refinishing You

  

Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behaviour will be transformed.  Charles Stanley

Have you ever refinished a piece of furniture?  There is a process that you go through to do this.  Sometimes you buy an old piece of furniture that someone has painted multiple colors and you have to sand off all the old paint to get to the beautiful wood beneath. Other times someone had placed a wet glass on the piece and it damages the surface which then needs to be refinished to restore it. The best way to refinish a piece is to take all of the hardware off so that you can paint underneath while keeping the hardware paint or stain free.  Then you can take a varnish and paint that on top to protect the finish.  Who wants to go through all that work and not protect the finish from damage?

Our Christian life is very much like refinishing a piece of furniture.  We spend years committing sin in our lives, yet we think we will somehow never be tempted to sin again.  We need to realize that our lives are a constant refinishing process.  When we are baptized it is like we sand off all the old sin and get down to the beautiful finish below.  We are made new again.  Next we need to get new hardware.  Our hardware consists of the Bible.  We can find everything we need to keep the finish new from this one Book.  Then there is the protective coating that needs to be applied to protect us.  God is our coat of armor and breastplate of righteousness when the world and Satan is bombarding us.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for the opportunity to refinish me.  When I was baptized I was made new again, but it doesn’t stop there.  I must continue to fight against the sin of this world.  I am in the battle of a lifetime and I need Your help to guide, guard and protect me.  Thank you for loving and protecting me.    

Scripture: Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:4

The Whole Armor of God

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.  Ephesians 6:10-20