Repairing The World

Isaiah 58:6-12

You will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. (Isaiah 58:12)

TIKKUN OLAM IS A PHRASE from rabbinic Judaism, traceable back to the Mishnah, that has become a synonym for social justice. It means “repairing the world,” and it includes the acts of charity and social reform common among today’s activists. But its original sense involves not only works of justice but the reason behind them—human participation in the divine work of restoration. While many of us look to God to see what he will do to fix things, he often throws the question back at his people. He involves us in his plans.

Many Christians are unfamiliar with this tikkun olam concept, but it fits the heart of God. It recognizes not only that God saves us from the world, but he also saves us in the world. He has not called his creation a lost cause and abandoned it for something better down the road. He is fully into restoring what he made (Acts 3:21).

Christians have a distinguished history of preaching the gospel of redemption, but the gospel of restoration has gotten lost along the way. In truth, they are two sides of the same coin. God does not flee from problems; he fixes them. He does not give up; he is bent on making all things new. The good news of salvation is not just an escape; it’s a renovation of life and the world around you.

That’s why Jesus told his followers to ask for God’s Kingdom to come on earth just as it is in heaven. Yes, it will come in its fullness one day, but that doesn’t mean it’s only for later. God is not biding his time. He’s at work today, in your life and in the lives of those around you. And he’s calling his people to embrace the business of restoration.

If you want to be like God, be a restorer. He repairs broken walls and restores streets (Isaiah 58:12, NIV), and he makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). He loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to it. And his Son sends each of us into the same world with the same mind-set and mission.

{Jesus, let me be your hands and feet on earth. You have restored my life; make me a restorer in my corner of this world. Amen.