Peter Cropper is one of Britain's most accomplished violin players, so accomplished that the Royal Academy of Music in London once loaned him a 258-year old Stradivarius. The Stradivarius violin of course, is an exquisite instrument, worth an unbelievable amount of money and beautiful to the ear.
But while performing in Finland disaster struck. Cropper tripped over and "came a croppa" right on top of the violin. The priceless Stradivarius was broken and Peter Cropper was devastated.
Then came hope. Cropper took the violin to a master craftsman who he had heard might be able to repair it. And repair it he did. In fact the repairs were so well done that they could not be seen and beautiful sounds once more flowed from the Stradivarius.
In the same way that the master craftsman repaired that Stradivarius, so God is in the business of repairing us and his universe. Created to play God's "beautiful music" we have been flawed and marked, yet because of Jesus that which is broken can be renewed and recreated.
Source: reported by Norman Vincent Peale in Guideposts Magazine, May 1982.
Applications: restoration, recreation, healing, transformation, character, Christlikeness, second coming, return of Christ, sin