Projects

           But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; (I Corinthians 9:26)

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

          You’ve probably seen it on Facebook. Someone shows you something they got at a thrift store or Dollar Tree that you and I would probably say is useless, and they turn it into something whimsical, beautiful,  useful, or otherwise wonderful. I wish I had the craftiness needed to pull off some of those transformations. Of course, some of them require a fair amount of skill with tools or supplies that I tend to be afraid to try to develop.

          God doesn’t have that problem, and reclamation seems to be one of His hobbies. Only He’s not looking at a candy dish or a floor lamp. He’s looking at us and some of the work He wants to do isn’t exactly comfortable. Being sanded down to the raw wood or otherwise removing stains and paints from the outside can be painful or ugly. Things that have always been a part of our life in this way suddenly be turned upside down or replaced with something unfamiliar. We may find ourselves put in a collection with things we don’t like. And that color paint/stain to refinish us? That hardware? Who is He kidding? We had another idea in mind, and more often than not, that other idea makes us look good, powerful, or impressive. Sometimes, we’re afraid that if we don’t direct God, we’ll end up looking like a Grinch Leg Lamp.

          And this is where we can run into a difficulty. The sermon yesterday morning at my church had to do with being doers of the Word, and not just hearers. And that’s right. But if we are “doing” God’s Word to impress others, we’re not doing God’s Word. We can work really hard at all the things we find in Scripture, but if it’s for others to praise us, it’s not from God. On the other hand (and I fear this is more often my case) if I sit around waiting for God to change me, inspire me, move me, give me clear commands, etc., then I am not becoming like Christ.

          This brings us to the other passages above. There are times when we need to be Rocky and times when we need to be Jello. Right now, I’m trying to walk the line between those two as I meditate on how God sees me. And today’s notion of a project is one I can relate to. I like projects. I can’t say I’m good enough that I can do things that don’t make sense and have them turn out beautiful, but I’ve seen it happen.