The Artist's work

Yesterday @ KCC we started our series on the Holy Spirit, "Forgotten God".

I believe this to be a crucial series in the life of KCC, but also to be important for ALL believers in Jesus Christ!

Many of us function in our everyday lives as if WE are the ones who produce 'sanctification' in our lives. We act as though simply 'trying harder' will make us more like Jesus.

Don't get me wrong--I believe that we DO have a responsibility...but that responsibility is to "keep in step with the Spirit", and to make sure that we are living in such a way that The Holy Spirit can produce the "fruit" in our lives (See Galatians 4-5).

...but one main point needs to be emphasized again, and that is this:

IF we want more power, consistency, joy, and FAITH in our lives, we CANNOT do things the same way as we always have! We MUST be open to the possibility that God wants to change some things in us in order to do His work! God is like an artist making His masterpiece in our lives...and we need to be willing to have him 'mold us and make us' however He wants!

The Prophet Isaih wrote,
"You turn things upside down,as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"?
and the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"? (Isaiah 29:16)

The Apostle Paul wrote:
"But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" (Romans 9:21-22)

My point is simply this:

If we are going to be formed by God into the person He wants us to be (and consequently, to experience Him in new, deeper, and more consistent ways), we have to be willing to be 'the lump of clay"! We must be willing to have Him do his work! The canvas cannot tell the artist what to paint! The iron cannot tell the blacksmith how much to pound on it!

If we are going to "go further" in our faith, we have to willingly submit ourselves to our Master.

One of the things that means is that we must commit to letting Him "search me, o God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting..." (Psalm 139:23-24)

This takes courage...it takes faith...it rests on our understanding that our Lord LOVES us and has GOOD things in mind for us--He is not sadistic, and He does not 'pound on us' for no reason.

I wonder how many of us want to 'go deeper' in our faith--even though it means saying to God "Lord, I'm yours...do with me what you will."

I want the Artist to work my life into something beautiful...even if it means going through something difficult to get there.

HE knows what is necessary; I choose to trust and submit to Him.

How about you?

Want to join me in watching God work? Want to see what He does in us?

It's the only way to get to be that beautiful work of the Artist!