I’ve got another confession to make…

My wife Carla has been sick for almost a week. Her symptoms have changed a bit, but she has felt pretty puny for the last five days. Her sickness has reminded me of something about myself. I am a fixer. When something is messed up I want to fix it. When someone I love is sick or hurt, I want to make it better. Now, before you just assume that it is a “macho-guy-thing,” take a minute and think about it. When someone you care about is going through something…maybe physically, maybe emotionally, don’t you just want to make it all better?

I think this impulse that so many of us carry, that things aren’t the way they should be, that something or someone needs to do something to fix all of this, this impulse is as old as our story. The writer of Genesis paints a picture of how everything got messed up…people chose rebellion against God over obedience to God, and everything has been busted since.

Here is how one of the Psalmists puts it:

How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire? [Psalm 9v46 TNIV]

Have you ever asked this? How long? How long will it be like this? How long until everything is made right again?

At the end of the Scriptures, the writer of Revelation gives us a glimpse of the moment when everything is made right:

“¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” [Revelation 21v1-5 TNIV]

When I feel this impulse to fix everything, it reminds me that I can’t. I can’t even fix me. But God can. And God is. As a follower of God in the way of Jesus I trust that he can do what I can’t. That he will, some day, make everything new. That includes me, you, and this good world that God created. The good news is that God has the final word…and it is hope.

Are you a fixer? What have you been trying to fix, repair, change? How do the words in Revelation 21 land in your life right now?

A recovering fixer,

josh