Repairing, Restoring and Improving the Broken
Our Mission
To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.
Ezekiel 16.49 describes, Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. For those who read the Bible regularly and know the story of Sodom, the description of that city’s sins is probably shocking. Most would describe the problem with Sodom as sexual immorality. Their immorality created our word sodomy which has always held a negative connotation in our society.
God’s description of Sodom’s sins are different than the face value understanding of their story. Lying deeper is a root of pride (I’ll do whatever I want), gluttony (I’ll use whatever I want to comfort myself), and laziness (I don’t care at all what you want or need).
We often define our sin by what we do and if we don’t do certain things we consider ourselves good and upright. God defines sin more often by what we don’t do; the failure to engage His will and His work, His way for His glory. The American Church might be experiencing its own judgement because it too is participating in the sins of Sodom. On the surface we are running rampant with sexual immorality. But under the surface, the Church is suffering from pride, gluttony and laziness.
We are proud that we are children of God, we are the good people, we are the one’s God likes best. We portray to the world a come to us if you want to be better attitude rather than a go into the world and suffer as a servant for righteousness sake.
We are gluttons for we feast on every manner of Christian teaching Sunday morning then turn on our Christian radio as we head to the Christian bookstore. We have so many resources to help us live the Christian life that we are overwhelmed to the point of being able to behave as finicky and picky eaters, only nibbling at the nicest of pleasantries.
Meanwhile we are lazy, lazy at loving our neighbor as our self so that we leave most of our society walking down their road to hell. We are not workers with our hands firmly fixed upon the plow seeing people as harassed and helpless in need of a Savior.
The culture’s increasingly evil nature is a reflection of the poverty of the leaven to influence the entire loaf. God desires the entire world restored to Himself. Until the Church engages the world the world remains in poverty, darkness and death. We must love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as our self then we will work hard, serve often and give generously to see God’s kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven.
His Opportunities
Prayer and Bible study occurs every Friday morning at the Coral Gables restaurant in East Lansing from 7am – 8am, feel free to join us.
- Tuesday, September 20th at the City Rescue Mission from noon until 1pm is your next CBMC Rescue Luncheon. This is your opportunity to serve lunch to the men and women who depend upon the Mission for their meal. Commit Here
- CBMC needs your help to continue its ministry to men in the marketplace. Please support CBMC today. DONATE
CBMC Central Michigan 6011 W. St. Joseph Ste. 401 Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 www.lansing.cbmc.com
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
September 19, 2016
Repairing, Restoring and Improving the Broken
by Jim Mathis
In my photo restoration business, I often see photographs that are stained, faded, or even torn into pieces. My job is to carefully put the pieces back together, remove stains and blemishes, and restore faded colors. In the process I use a variety of tools. Sometimes the tools are obvious, such as soap and water and a cotton swab. Other times I use highly sophisticated computer graphics software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to fill in cracks or even replace pieces that are missing. One of my great pleasures – professionally and personally – is being able to present to a customer a restored image that they believed was lost, beyond repair, whether of a loved one or a cherished memory.
There is a metaphor here for everyday life, because often it is not just photos that are damaged. People’s lives are damaged as well, sometimes very badly. In one respect or another, this is true for all of us. Fortunately, we have a skilled craftsman named Jesus, who can examine the pieces of our lives, see what is damaged, discover what is faded or has been abused, and even find what is missing in our lives. Then, like a skilled photographic specialist, He can carefully go about putting things back as good as new.
Using specialized software, I can work to make just about any photograph even better than new, invariably better than the client expected. I work meticulously so that which was neglected, damaged, or torn can become superior to the original. I like to tell my clients that not only can I repair damaged photographs, but I also can improve them, even if they didn’t know there was anything wrong.
In a far more profound, eternal way, every day God is doing the same type of work in our lives through His Son, Jesus Christ. He makes it His business to take lives that are damaged, broken, faded, or even have pieces missing, and put them back together, better than before.
God delights in this restoration and renewal process. He declares this in the Old Testament of the Bible. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?…” (Isaiah 43:19). Then, as our relationship with Him grows, we are invited to experience a divine, everlasting transformation process: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:2). As we focus on God and the Scriptures, we can become new people.
Instead of cotton swabs, airbrushes and computer software, God uses love, forgiveness and reconciliation as His tools for transformation.
Admittedly, I as a photo professional do not go around fixing every photo that I see. And God does not automatically repair broken lives. Each of my clients knows they have a problem photo, which is why they bring it to me to be improved. Once they have reached out to me, I do everything I can to solve their problem. In much the same way, God wants us to come to Him and admit that we are ready for the help that only He can give.
This is why Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…” (Luke 11:9). Just as my customers bring their needs to me, we must bring ourselves to God.
Jim Mathis is the owner of a photography studio in Overland Park, Kansas, specializing in executive, commercial and theatrical portraits, and operates a school of photography. He formerly was executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.
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