Broken-Down House
it because he had restoration in mind, not destruction. Across the room were three piles of molding he had already removed, every piece perfectly intact. That molding would be refinished and hang on the wall in beauty once again. Living Productively in a Broken-Down House So, that’s what this book is about. What does it look like on a practical level to live well in a broken-down world that is being restored? What does it look like to live a restoration lifestyle—to live productively in a broken place? What does it look like to function as one of God’s tools of restoration? This book proposes that you have been created and called by God for more than survival. You have been created and called to care for more than just yourself. You have been chosen to be engaged in a process—to care about, to work for, and to embrace the promise and possibility of a restoration lifestyle. The reason the old man’s house had gotten so bad is that he didn’t care. He was willing to settle for personal survival. He didn’t live with hope or promise. He lived a life of avoidance and daily denial. He wouldn’t let himself face how bad it was and how good it could be. He didn’t care what the house looked like to his neighbors and he didn’t seem to mind that it was getting worse. He gave in as the house gave out, so things just got worse and worse. But God does care, and he calls you to care. God is not satisfied with the state of this house, and he calls us to share in his holy dissatisfaction. In our hearts he wants dissatisfaction and hope to kiss. He wants us, every day that we live, to embrace the gospel promise of a world made new. He wants our lives to be shaped by uncompromising honesty and undiminished hope. He wants us to face how bad things really are, not as survivalists, but as restorers. He wants to pick us up in his hands and use us as the hammers, saws, and screwdrivers of a brand new world. He wants us to believe that because of what he has done there is hope for new beginnings and fresh starts.
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