[RE]FOCUS Day 7
Week 1: [RE]FOCUS
Day 7: Re-establishing
By Michele Grupe
READ:
Revelation 21:5 “I am making all things new.”
When I taught art, it seemed like the students enjoyed working with clay the best. Any child could take a lump of clay and work it with their hands into something meaningful. After the students had created a project like a bowl or animal, the clay piece had to be placed into a kiln to go through a process called firing. The heat would alter the chemical makeup of the clay so it took a permanent shape. When the students received their project back after this first firing, they were amazed that a wet blob of gray clay was now a delicate, white ceramic piece. Sometimes they couldn’t even recognize their own work!
The ceramic process is a great reminder of how God works in our lives to help us grow as Christians and become spiritually mature. Our old, sinful nature is like a lifeless lump of clay. On our own, we can do nothing to save ourselves. God [RE]FOCUSES us to shape and mold our lives into His image. Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Just like the clay has to be fired to gain strength, over time we may face trials and difficulties in our lives. These trials help to refine our character and remove sin from our lives, as we receive our new identity in Christ. Isaiah 43:18-19 says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Jesus bestows us with a new identity as we let go of former things.
We can trust God in the fire. We trust that He has a reason for every pain, difficulty, and disappointment. We trust that it is for His glory and our good, to become more like Christ. Even though we may not be able to envision the end result, the Divine Artist Himself continually renews and transforms us until we become His beautiful vessel. Even when we feel like our lives are a mess, we trust that God can turn it into a masterpiece.
PRAY:
Father, you are the Divine Potter, we are your clay. You called us into existence. You remain with us even when we rebel and shatter ourselves and others. Move us to trust and believe that because Jesus is more than enough, You do and You will put us back together in this life. Help us also to believe that You will return and make re-establish all things better than they ever were.
LIVE:
How does God re-establish faith in you, day by day?