What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see YOU or do you see Christ? God created each one of us for a purpose and in his own image.
It’s easy to look at our mistakes and think that we’re useless to God. But no life is so messed up, so broken, so physically imperfect that it can’t be restored into a beautiful handiwork. The Bible is very clear – we are wonderfully made, we are his workmanship – and we each have tasks or good works to perform. And what God makes is “perfect”.
Yet at times we may feel like “junk” – everything we do seems to be wrong, nothing in our life seems to be right, and we get discouraged. It’s easy to look at our mistakes and think that we’re useless to ourselves, to others, and to God. Everyone else seems to have it all together, when in reality, we all are struggling with our own brokenness, mistakes, and hurts. There is not one person on this planet who isn't struggling in some way. But God loves each one of us and wants us to learn to love ourselves.
God expects those who follow Jesus to look more and more like him from the inside out. It can seem as though God uses a chisel and hammer to chip away at and shape our lives so we can become the people God longs for – true followers of Jesus. The longer we live as followers of Jesus, the more and more our lives should look like his because of God’s work in us and through us.
As Christians, it doesn’t take us long to see the areas in need of improvement. We struggle with issues of anger, pride, jealousy, bitterness, lust and self-centeredness, just to name a few. Our goal is to fix our eyes upon Jesus and to allow God to chisel away those things in our life that are keeping us from looking in the mirror and seeing Jesus. This can be a painful process, but is exactly what must take place for us to become the people God desires.
Remember, God is at work in us. We are to work in tandem with God to fulfill our purpose and to have the relationship God wants with us. As we come into this new year – what would God “chisel” first in your life?
Let me know how this is working in your life and I’ll tell you about mine!
No comments:
Post a Comment