Alright, I have it in my mind to complete posts for the entire devotion booklet... counting this one I am thinking I am down to 3 (of course, with me, that means maybe 4?). At the same time we will be transitioning some of the blog use to our new series of Sunday messages bringing new perspectives from God's Word with the new year.
In an act of great audacity, I am going to tweak Ryan's (the author, a sem classmate, and sem intramural opponent) Day 28 metaphor. When I think of God's work in my life it is not necessarily as a work-in-progress and a constant attempt by God to make me a better person. I'm not thinking in terms of surface improvements like filling in pot-holes or cracks or even repaving over road that has been worn-down. I'm also not thinking in terms of lane expansion so that God is adding more road to what was already there or beautification as if He were making the ride more enjoyable by adding pleasant things to experience along the drive.
The Bible talks in terms of the old being gone so that something new can be created. God doesn't come into our lives to make improvements, He comes to remove the old and bring the new. He comes to kill that which is in opposition to Him and raise up a new person living a new life with a new heart filled with a new love that provides new impulses, new desires, new attitudes, new behaviors, new everything. Within the metaphor, God puts on the hard hat, takes a jack hammer to our life, comes in with some heavy equipment to drag out the remnants, and then He lays down a new road (the metaphor gets tricky here and probably breaks down so I will simply describe the new road as...) that connects our life to Jesus.
I love the way Ryan then uses three days to demonstrate an awesome truth about your relationship with God and the new life that He brings. God knows you and He has created you with a certain uniqueness. You and you alone are you (That is my profound statement for the day). That means that YOU have interests and talents and passions and "mad skeelz" all given by God. And YOU can use these things you like to do and these things you are good at doing to glorify God and serve others. You don't have to be someone you're not and fit into someone else's image of an ideal you. Be the YOU God has made you to be. YOUR relationship with God will carry with it some of YOUR uniqueness. God will heal you and strengthen you and challenge you and grow you and use you based on the you that He has made you and you alone to be. What do you look forward to the most in a relationship (Pause, ponder, ponder some more, proceed)... apply that answer to your relationship with God.
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