‘...You
never know what you’re gonna get’,
according to the film character, Forrest Gump, in the movie by the same name. But
there are ways to know ‘what you’re gonna get’.
God loves us just as we are, yet He loves us too much to allow us to remain as we are. Familiar expression? His objective is to shape us slowly and gradually into the spiritual ‘image’ of Christ', Who is the physical image of God, Himself, Who is Spirit. (Hebrews 1:2) This ‘image’ is exactly how Adam and Eve thought, believed, spoke, acted and inter-acted, both with God and with each other, prior to their sinful fall. When they sinned, literally every aspect of their ‘image’ flipped: upside-down; right side wrong. They became totally perverted from ‘the way they were’.
God’s objective is to flip us over, back to right-side up, and wrong side right; and to revert us from our perverted image, back to ‘the way we were’. While we are hell bent on conforming, blending in, not standing out, and flowing with popular trends, He is busily orchestrating to get us to 'live right-side-up in an upside-down world'. Thus, we can have insight into ‘what we’re gonna get in life’ by observing this, His plan, along with His principles and patterns. His principal instruments to accomplish this objective are:
God loves us just as we are, yet He loves us too much to allow us to remain as we are. Familiar expression? His objective is to shape us slowly and gradually into the spiritual ‘image’ of Christ', Who is the physical image of God, Himself, Who is Spirit. (Hebrews 1:2) This ‘image’ is exactly how Adam and Eve thought, believed, spoke, acted and inter-acted, both with God and with each other, prior to their sinful fall. When they sinned, literally every aspect of their ‘image’ flipped: upside-down; right side wrong. They became totally perverted from ‘the way they were’.
God’s objective is to flip us over, back to right-side up, and wrong side right; and to revert us from our perverted image, back to ‘the way we were’. While we are hell bent on conforming, blending in, not standing out, and flowing with popular trends, He is busily orchestrating to get us to 'live right-side-up in an upside-down world'. Thus, we can have insight into ‘what we’re gonna get in life’ by observing this, His plan, along with His principles and patterns. His principal instruments to accomplish this objective are:
- His forgiveness, which reveals His infallible love,
- The gift of a reborn spirit to all who accept Jesus’ sacrifice for sin,
- His vivid word picture book, The Bible, and
- (drumroll) …Irritants
Yep,
irritants may well be the equivalent of God’s mirror, held up for us to see
ourselves more intimately - ‘in-to-me-see’. They act like handy
instruments to show us what needs to be changed, developed or pruned (ouch!)
in our lives. Irritants speak, and if we tune in, we can hear their soft
voices saying, ‘Here’s another area ripe for surrendering, in faith, to God’s
power and purpose. Let’s see what He will do.’
Join me in pondering this point as we review what’s currently irritating us. And remember this point during those times that are sure to come when life seems like anything but…
Join me in pondering this point as we review what’s currently irritating us. And remember this point during those times that are sure to come when life seems like anything but…
…a box of chocolates.
