Product Or Process?

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo that I saw on Facebook the other day! It really made me laugh because it hit so close to home. How many of us have not felt this way before! Let me play out the
common scenario with you:

The Lord impresses upon your heart through the revelation of His Word a spiritual truth or need in your life. Your heart is tender because you want to follow in the ways of Christ. You sincerely ask the Lord to give you the needed quality in your life to better follow Him and reflect His glory. However, you soon become discouraged when you find yourself repeatedly failing in the very area that you gave over to the Lord and asked for His help with. 

Sound familiar? I know it does for me. What do we do during these discouraging times? Too often, though not with the exact words, we reflect the attitude of the picture above. However, we fail to realize that God is doing the very work that we are asking Him to do by allowing us to face those very difficulties. You see, you cannot have the product without the process. God uses this process to grow us, strengthen us, and make us more dependent on Him.

So, in the midst of your failures, remember that God is working in you through those very failures. You do not need to depend upon yourself. Instead, realize that your weakness is further showing you your need for the perfection of another. You need Someone who has already perfectly obeyed where you are failing. You need Someone who has faced the very temptations that you are succumbing to but went through them without giving in. You need Someone who both understands you and has keeps you secure--no matter what. That Someone is Jesus. In our union with Christ, His obedience has been transferred to our account and made to be our obedience. His perfection is likewise our perfection. That is more than enough to keep us going and striving to follow in His footsteps!



post signature

No comments:

Post a Comment