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  • Writer's pictureSew for Christ

1 John 1:9 - Restoring our Souls

Updated: Nov 13, 2022


Last year I found an antique Singer parlor cabinet at the thrift store. The entire sewing mechanism is hidden and the head can be stored under the lid. All closed, the cabinet looks like another piece of furniture. At the time of its release, the parlor cabinet was the best model you could buy. Now it's one of the most rare.


I had been looking for Singer cabinet with a working sewing machine to use for quilting, as the throat is larger to accommodate for large quilts. I prayed for a while and looked for one in my budget range. One day we felt that we should go to the thrift shop, where I found this. It was truly an answer to prayer. It even had the original additional presser feet.


It just needed a new belt and it was usable. However, the wood finish had been painted some number of years ago with a thick, crackling dark paint, on the left side of the image. For over a year now, I've been working on stripping each piece and refinishing the wood, as evidenced on the right side of the image.


This, of course, has parallels to our relationship with God. He makes us beautiful in His image, pieces of wonderful oak with embossed appliqués. However, our sin covers us up in ugly dark paint, hiding our true beauty. Through salvation, through Jesus, the paint is stripped off (alternatively, washed white as snow). However, if we aren't lacquered with the Holy Spirit, our raw wood can be stained by dirt and sin.


Apostle John backs this up in 1 John:


"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 TLV)


By confessing that we our sinners and that we need Jesus, He can come and purify us from our sins. He comes and strips off the old paint, carefully removing all the gunk from our souls. Then by exercising the gifts of the Spirit and walking in His word and Spirit, we are refinished in a gloss that amplifies our substance, the Father in us.


In the same way that I am painstakingly restoring the original finish on this antique, God works in our lives to restore our souls to their original finish, the glory of Heaven.



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