Made New

“And we all … are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”    —2 Corinthians 2:18

Last evening, I sat down in front of some mindless TV program with two pairs of shoes, a newspaper, and my shoeshine kit. My kit consists of two Kiwi tins of polish (brown and black), two old tooth brushes, and a horsehair shine brush. As I opened the brown tin, I quickly remembered how dried out and cracked the polish was. I managed to hold down a few of the larger pieces long enough to get sufficient polish to coat both brown shoes. Then, I googled the internet for some way of restoring my leftover brown polish.

I typed into the Google search bar, “soften Kiwi shoe polish.” Within 0.46 seconds, I had over 5,000 results to my query. I took the advice of the first two responses: reheat without an open flame until melted. We have a large electric tart warmer. (For most of you guys out there, it’s kind of like a mini crockpot for scented candles.) Our tart warmer has a 4 ½” opening and was just large enough to allow my fingers to lower a shoe polish tin to the bottom. By the time I had polished my black shoes, the brown polish had melted and looked completely new.

Just a word of caution: don’t try this at home without adult supervision. Guys, get your wife’s permission. I am told Kiwi shoe polish contains naphtha, lanolin, turpentine, wax, and, ethylene glycol. It might not explode but will definitely catch fire if heated over an open flame. Also, I read that 175 degrees is hot enough to do the trick. One website cautioned against overheating and most warned not to ignite the polish. The tart warmer worked perfectly for me.

Honestly, when I saw the dried, cracked polish transform into a shimmering liquid in the tin, I was completely amazed and immediately thought about how God is able to take the cracked and broken pieces of our lives and make them new again. When we turn our eyes upon Jesus in faith, God begins the process of melting, molding, and transforming us into His image. We, who have wrecked our lives or lived for ourselves, can, by God’s grace, become re-created and useful for God’s Kingdom and others.

I would imagine, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Kiwi tins have been thrown away with plenty of useful polish within. The polish may be cracked and crumbled. It may be dried up and appear useless to the human eye, but a few minutes in the tart warmer might make them good as new and useful once again. God’s love for us is infinitely more powerful than a tart warmer.

If you and I would only place ourselves under the discipline and love of God, we too can be reclaimed and made new again. This is done through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, in my illustration, would be the power source, the electricity that causes the warmer to heat and transform the polish (our lives). John the Baptist said he was baptizing with water, but One was coming, Jesus Christ, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).

My renewed polish worked great, but after a couple uses, it cracked and dried again in the tin. I plan to follow another post’s advice and add a small amount of mineral spirits (turpentine or kerosene) and try again. After all, the scripture did say transformation comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. This lesson may indeed be good household advice for shoe polish, but the greater lesson is an invitation from the Lord to begin life anew. Take the broken pieces of your life and give them to Jesus. You, too, can be made new.