TRANSFORMED

TRANSFORMED

The Lord blessed us with a wonderful gift from a dear friend -- a 18 year old motor home! We haven't named her yet, but she has become a work in progress. We have had a good time the past few weeks working on her from the inside out. It started with removing all the old curtains and blinds which then led to peeling off some of the old "Sana toss" (not sure if that is even spelled right ...) wallpaper that has become bubbled from sheer old age.

Then we ripped up the old carpet and began the task of laying new floor tiles on the wooden floor. We started laying the tiles on Saturday afternoon and finished the task late Saturday night. While the floor looks great for two amateurs, as we stepped back to admire it, there is still work to be done. Our skills are limited so we still need some finishing touches like moldings and carpet treads where the upfront carpet meets the tile. The more we are into in, the more we realize that the trailer is a "work in progress."

As I was laying in bed this morning trying to shake off the sleep cobwebs, the thought struck me that the trailer reminds me of our lives as Christians -- we are works in progress. God is in the process of conforming and transforming our lives for HIS glory ... we are a work in progress ... Paul writes about this is several of his letters:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one would boast. For we are His WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." -- 2 Corinthians 3:18

I am reminded of the illustration that Bill Gothard uses that our lives are like a painting that is still on the easel. The Master artist is painting the portrait of our lives and one day the masterpiece will be complete. My friend, rejoice today that the Master is at work in your life -- transforming you from the INSIDE OUT. Your life is a work in progress.

Good words to ponder today.

Great quote: "Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for mark you, when they are not near to Christ they lose their peace. The nearer you are to Jesus, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; and the further from Jesus, the nearer to that troubled sea which images the continual unrest of the wicked. There is no peace to the man who does not dwell under the shadow of the cross; for Jesus is our peace, and if he be absent, our peace is absent too. I know that being justified, we have peace with God, but it is 'through our Lord Jesus Christ.' so that the justified man himself cannot reap the fruit of justification, except by abiding in Christ Jesus, who is the Lord and Giver of peace." Charles Spurgeon, Sermon, "The Bride and the Bridegroom"