A follow up…..
This Sunday, March 7th, I talked about how we are the body of Christ, the physical representation of God to the world. There were some closing comments that didn’t make it to the cd that I think are helpful, so I would like to share them with you here.
A good friend of mine once told me, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips those whom He calls.”
When it comes to this great calling and privilege of being God’s body, the body of Christ, His physical manifestation and representation to the world in which we come into contact with, one thing that God is not concerned with is whether or not I feel worthy of this. This is who God has called us to be, and so, if we choose to participate with Him, He will be the one who transforms us into His accurate representation.
So many times we get hung up with needing to get our own acts together. That kind of thinking is a pursuit of profoundly missing the point. The kind of life that God is calling us to is a journey, a ‘with Him’ kind of existence. My role in participating with Him is just that, participation. Asking me to change into something else is like asking an onion to change into an orange. It’s just not going to happen. But, God can do the impossible for with Him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). My participation then becomes my act of saying, “God, I’m tired of smelling bad, turn me into something sweet.”
The question isn’t whether or not God is capable of doing this, the question becomes do I really want God to do it? For some, that is a very scary question. Do I really want God to bring whatever is necessary into my life to bring about this change that only He can do? Do I really want God to raise questions in my mind that cause me to question beliefs about Him and myself and my faith that I have held tightly to for much of my life that would bring about this change? Do I really want God to ask of me to let go of some or all of life’s comforts in order to bring about this change? Do I really want to let go of all say in my life to Him in order to bring about this change? Do I really want to say to Him, “Yes, do with me as You will, take me where You want to take me, challenge me how You want to challenge me; my life is Yours, have Your way with me.”?
This is why God will settle for no less than total surrender on our part. Not because He is an ego-maniac and it’s My way or the highway, but because it just really isn’t possible for me to fully cooperate with Him in a transformation process while still holding on to my own way. It’s just not possible.
God will be faithful to make me into the kind of person who can accurately portray His face, His likeness, His character to the world. Do I want Him to?
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