Transformation Through God's Grace

There is a television show that I watch occasionally on the Food Network called “Restaurant: Impossible.” If you’ve never watched it, the premise of the show is that a restaurant expert comes into a struggling business that has admitted, realized and asked for help. The expert then observes what is not working. With only $10,000, he re-works the menu, cleans up the (usually quite disgusting) kitchen, re-trains the staff (or hires new staff if need be) and refurnishes/renovates the facilities. Normally, the establishments become highly successful after a bit of “house cleaning” and updating.

To me, $10,000 would be quite helpful in my life. However according to the experts in the restaurant business, “re-doing” an established, unsuccessful business would cost more in the ball park of $50,000 to $100,000, MINIMUM!  It would seem to be pretty amazing what the experts in this television show can do with so little. In many cases, they use what is already in the store (the furniture, for example) and simply refurbish it. By the end of the show, the place looks like a brand new restaurant!

Often times, the problem is more in the personality of the owner than anything else. They are often cocky and unwilling to make changes in their business (one of the reasons their restaurant usually ends up getting into such bad shape to begin with!). It is only after they submit to the authority of the experts and allow them to make changes that any of the positive transformations begins to occur. Sometimes the restaurant reverts to its old ways, backslides and then becomes stagnant again…eventually closing down. It is only those that stick with the new changes that have been made, submitting to the advice and authority of the experts, that remain successful.

In the same way, God takes an unsuccessful, disappointing, cocky failure and turns them into a transformed new child.

Did you notice what the owners had to do in order to allow the place to be made new?

1.       They had to realize and admit their problem.

2.       They had to realize the consequence of going without help.

3.       They had to ask for and accept the help.

4.       They had to submit/surrender.

5.       They had to commit every single day to the changes that were made.

In the same way, a person has to admit they are a sinner. The Bible says that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God [Romans 3:23] and that NO ONE is good enough to get into Heaven apart from Jesus….that NO ONE is righteous…not even one [Romans 3:10]!

A person has to realize the consequence of being a sinner. The Bible says that the wages of sin is eternal death [Romans 6:23].

A person has to ASK for help in order to be delivered from this consequence. The Bible says that If we declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved [Romans 10:9]….we have to ASK for and also ACCEPT the help.

We have to submit to the authority of God and become a servant of that authority…and not JUST that, we must maintain that submission every single day in order to remain a success. The Bible says that if we want to come after Jesus, we must deny ourselves [forget our egos and cockiness] and take up our cross DAILY and follow Him [Luke 9:23].

Are you willing to submit, or are you the cocky restaurant owner who wants to crash and burn in the end?