“I also know, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.” 1 Chronicles 29.17

Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the LORD be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” Psalm 35.27

Mad for makeovers
These days “reality” programming is all the rage on television. I haven’t tried to count them all, but I’d venture to say that a large percentage of shows on all the networks are of this nature – people in everyday life doing everyday reality kinds of things.

And it’s interesting how many of these programs are of the “makeover” type. You can get a personal makeover by purchasing the jewelry, clothes, or make-up you see modeled or used before you. You can makeover a meal by combining unlikely ingredients in new and creative ways. Makeover an old piece of furniture or a whole room in your home. Or take an old house, tear out its guts, shore up its foundations, bring in all new designs and furnishings and just make the whole thing over, all within the space of an hour or so.

We’re mad for makeovers, it seems, and the pursuit of this kind of pleasure, if only vicariously, reveals something about us and the God Who made us. God, you see, is in the makeover business. It gives Him delight to restore old, broken, and ruined people and things. And since we are made in His image and likeness, it only makes sense that we gravitate to and find pleasure in making things – including ourselves – over again as well.

Restoration
It pleased God, in the beginning of things, to make human beings whole and complete in a whole and complete world. Whole and complete, but not perfect; that would only come through obedience and with time. Solomon says that God made human beings “upright,” (Eccl. 7.29), but, as is our wont, we rebelled against the divine plan and thought we could find a way that seems right to us apart from His purposes and pleasure (Prov. 14.12).

Of course, we were – and are – wrong in thinking this way. What’s worse, we’re all like Humpty Dumpty. Thinking we could scale any wall or heights on the strength of our own wits and wiles alone, we’ve all experienced great falls of one sort or another, and we can find it difficult, if not impossible, to put ourselves back together again.

But God is in the making-over business; He delights to restore people and things to uprightness and wholeness. It pleases Him, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to give His Kingdom and glory to those who believe in Him, and to begin in them a work of restoration that sees them increasingly being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and enabled to know and do the pleasure of God (2 Cor. 3.12-18; Phil. 2.13).

The reality show makeover madness of our day is an expression of that deep-seated sense every person has of knowing pleasure in new things. Jesus Christ is making all things new, according to the eternal purposes and pleasure of God (Rev. 21.5; Eph. 1.11); thus, we should expect that we may both know the pleasure of the Lord and share that pleasure with others by joining with Jesus in His work of restoring all things.

Projects abounding
God invites us to join in His work of renewing creation, culture, and people according to His original good and complete design. This project begins in our own souls, where we apply ourselves to the tools of spiritual life, and work with the Spirit as He refurbishes the core components of our being. From there we have the daily privilege of restoring all our words and deeds so that they refract the pleasure of God, flowing from our souls.

The work of making things new continues into every area and aspect of our lives – all our relationships, roles, and responsibilities. Nothing in our lives is ever what it should be, not our relationships, homes, work, diversions, communications, or possessions. Everything about us must be daily brought under the renewing plan of the Lord Jesus to be adjusted, tweaked, abandoned and replaced, or reconstructed according to His pleasure. We will find our lives more pleasurable by joining Him in the pleasure He takes in returning us and everything about us to uprightness, goodness, and wholeness.

And we will find pleasure in aiding others in their various makeover projects as well. Making over is what God is about; it pleases Him to make all things new. And making all things new can be a source of true Kingdom pleasure for us as well, who have made the Kingdom turn in every area of life into our Lord Jesus Christ.

Next steps: How much of your life at this time is presently “under construction” for the Lord and His Kingdom? Are you neglecting or overlooking any area of your life in this divine makeover? Talk with a church leader about these questions.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Kingdom Pleasure, is the seventh of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.