This past weekend, the church I attend had their annual woman's retreat and while I did not go, some of the girls from my community group went and shared a little of what God revealed to them over the weekend. A friend shared about how she realized that God takes pleasure in refining us to make us look more and more like Him. That too Him it's exciting & not a hassle or a disappointment to have to be continually scooping off all that dross as with every scoop He is able to see a little more of His reflection in us which is an impressive & miraculous thought since all this takes place on this side of heaven in the midst of sin & rebellion.
John Piper makes an interesting point that God is specifically compared to a refiner's fire and not, say..... a forrest fire or an incinerator's fire; for a forrest fire destroys indiscriminantly and an incinerator consumes EVERYTHING. But a refiner's fire is specific and methodical. The purpose of the refiner's fire is to purify and burn away anything that takes away from it's value; leaving the silver or gold in much better condition. Ultimately as believers the goal of refinement is to become more and more like Christ. The Scriptures tell us some of the specific benefits of being refined. Romans 5:3-4 tells us that refinement prouduces endurance/perserverance, which in turn produces character and that character results in hope which will never disappoint or put us to shame. James 1:1-4 declares that refinement produces perserverance and that perserverance works to make the believer mature, complete and lacking in nothing. All this to say that while the furnance of the refiner is grueling and brutal, the results are of eternal value and should be embraced. Our God is one who redeems & refines in the midst of brokeness, creating beautiful things from the dust and creating beautiful things out of us.
Today I was working on homework and listening to pandora and a song called "Change in the Making" by Addison Road came on. *Shameless plug: Addison Road is an awesome band with powerful & honest lyrics & you should definitely check them out!* The lyrics to this song are part of what inspired this post so enjoy!
There's a better version of me
That I can't quite see
But things are gonna change
But right now I'm a total mess and
Right now I'm completely incomplete
But things are gonna change
'Cause you're not through with me yet
>Chorus:
This is a redemption story
With every step that I'm taking
Everyday you're chipping away
What I don't need
This is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
And everyday I'm closer to who I'm meant to be
I'm a change in the making
Wish I could live more patiently
Wish I could give a little more of me
Without stopping to think twice
Wish I had faith like a little child
Wish I could walk a single mile
Without tripping on my own feet
Chorus
From the dawn of history
You make new and you redeem
From a broken world to a broken heart
You finish what you start in everything
Like a river rolls into the sea
We're not who we're going to be
But things are going to change
Chorus
I'm a change in the making
I'm not who I'm going to be
I'm moving closer to your
glory
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Great Expectations Vol. II
"God is bigger than our expectations." These words were spoken by a very wise woman a few weeks ago at the Monday night bible study I attend. These six words..... this simple statement..... has had an intensely profound effect on my outlook of life. For the past 5 months I have been internally grappling with this idea of expectations. This cosmic wrestling match has affected my mood, my self talk, and my relationship with God. I've been trying to understand what it is to have biblical expectations while trying to figure out & weed through my own fleshly & self-imposed expectations on life & God. I've been trying to sort through all of this for 2 main reasons. The first being for own peace of mind and the second being that I am required to do a missions internship as part of my graduation stipulations and I knew with everything inside of me, that I would never be able to behold & recieve all that God had for me on this internship unless we got this sorted out. This particular thing had become a bit of a roadblock for me and built an un-intentional wall between myself & my Savior. BUT.......
God in his good and perfect timing spoke these beautiful and impactful words through a friend, completely changing my perspective on this particular issue. "God is bigger than our expectations." To be human is to have expectations & to have expectations is to be human. I've realized that many times I create unconcious expectations about various things and am upset or flustered when they don't come to furtution without really understanding why, and other times I make intentional expectations of how something should go and am really thrown into a frenzy when it doesn't happen. Immediately following something like this begins the process of dealing with the disappointment and reconciling my damaged ego to His sovereignty & confidence.
"God is bigger than our expectations." This is what I am learning from this simple yet profound statement. My self-imposed expectations are a result of only being able to see a miniscule piece of the bigger picture. I'm learning that a lot of my expectations are me focused instead of Him focused. I am learning that God wants to do so much more than what I can imagine-in fact, God being bigger than my expectations means that He wants "to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to His power that is within us." (Ephesians 3:20) That word immeasurable means: impossible to measure/limitless or vast. Sounds vaguely reminiscent of one of God's attributes does it not? Only an infinite God could be bigger than my expectations & for that, I'm incredibly grateful.
So for this current stage of life these are the kinds of expectations I can have in Him.
I can expect God to do what is good in all situations. I can expect God to meet me where I am, regardless of my condition. I can expect Him to continue to teach me so that I may proceed in growth towards spiritual maturity. I can expect Him to stretch me, refine me & break me as He sees fit. I can expect to be used by God as He deems worthy. I can expect encouragement when I do right and loving rebuke when I do wrong. I can expect to be led & redirected by His Spirit to accomplish His purposes. These are the expectations that I can live in day by day.
"God is bigger than our expectations." With this thought, everything has changed. With this thought, things will never be the same. Lord I pray that I never forget this very important & insightful lesson that You have taught me these past 5 months.
God in his good and perfect timing spoke these beautiful and impactful words through a friend, completely changing my perspective on this particular issue. "God is bigger than our expectations." To be human is to have expectations & to have expectations is to be human. I've realized that many times I create unconcious expectations about various things and am upset or flustered when they don't come to furtution without really understanding why, and other times I make intentional expectations of how something should go and am really thrown into a frenzy when it doesn't happen. Immediately following something like this begins the process of dealing with the disappointment and reconciling my damaged ego to His sovereignty & confidence.
"God is bigger than our expectations." This is what I am learning from this simple yet profound statement. My self-imposed expectations are a result of only being able to see a miniscule piece of the bigger picture. I'm learning that a lot of my expectations are me focused instead of Him focused. I am learning that God wants to do so much more than what I can imagine-in fact, God being bigger than my expectations means that He wants "to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to His power that is within us." (Ephesians 3:20) That word immeasurable means: impossible to measure/limitless or vast. Sounds vaguely reminiscent of one of God's attributes does it not? Only an infinite God could be bigger than my expectations & for that, I'm incredibly grateful.
So for this current stage of life these are the kinds of expectations I can have in Him.
I can expect God to do what is good in all situations. I can expect God to meet me where I am, regardless of my condition. I can expect Him to continue to teach me so that I may proceed in growth towards spiritual maturity. I can expect Him to stretch me, refine me & break me as He sees fit. I can expect to be used by God as He deems worthy. I can expect encouragement when I do right and loving rebuke when I do wrong. I can expect to be led & redirected by His Spirit to accomplish His purposes. These are the expectations that I can live in day by day.
"God is bigger than our expectations." With this thought, everything has changed. With this thought, things will never be the same. Lord I pray that I never forget this very important & insightful lesson that You have taught me these past 5 months.
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