The temple was in ruin. Worship of Yahweh was underground. Temples, shrines, and idols dotted the landscape and captured the attention of so many Jews in 632 BC. 16-year-old King Josiah began seeking God. The renovation had begun. 2 Chron. 34 and 2 Kings 22 outline a restoration of the worship of God in Judah unlike any nation had seen before or since. This is the kind of restoration America needs, that each of us need many times.

Here are some principles from Josiah, from construction, and for us . . .

• Renovation requires some different tools, and definitively different techniques than construction. Principle – How we built our spiritual life will not look the same as how we restore it.
• Renovation requires tear down, removal and scrubbing that constructing does not.
• Renovation requires the almost redundant recommitment to persevering in right thoughts and actions.

Tools for spiritual renovation . . .

1. Focus on the solution. We don’t get dirt clean by scrubbing with more dirt, we get it clean by scrubbing with the solution. Therefore . . .
2. The washing water of the Word of God renovates us.
3. Thinking on and confessing who God’s created us to be in the future renovates us.
4. Picturing God’s majesty being formed in our character continually renovates us.
5. Enjoying the delight of God’s smile renovates us.
6. Thanking God daily for winning in us renovates us.
7. Speaking God’s majesty that we see in others renovates us.

These are tools that with continual use build us into power-houses for God who can’t not become God’s best picture for us over time. It’s time for a renovation!