Are you moldable? How can surrendering your life to God shape your faith, your life and your world? 🤔 Let’s talk about it!
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I have a cousin that is an expert at pottery. I have always been amazed at people that can demonstrate amazing skills in the arts, but especially so when it comes to pottery. Imagine, taking a clump of clay and forming it to be anything – only limited by your imagination. A functional coffee cup or a sculpture – you as the potter can decide. There is power in the potter being able to mold any shape or form they wish. There is something to be said that a potter can take something rather ordinary and common – even unremarkable and form something extraordinary.
Something that is great about being a human being and God’s child is that unlike the finished pottery from the kiln, we are moldable, flexible in how we behave, how we live our lives and how our actions can affect the lives of others.
I can remember a time in my younger days when I was far more selfish than I like to admit. In my youth, I felt a bit entitled to be lazy about things that affected others. When others would share how my actions or inactions affected them, I was hesitant to make changes. I guess you could say I was a bit rigid – much like the finished pottery you might find in an art gallery.
How would you characterize yourself when it comes to being flexible, moldable? Do you feel as though everything about you is just right? That you have everything under control and don’t need any outside help or advice? Do you feel that you don’t need God’s help or guidance?
What if there are areas in your life, opportunities in your life that God knows you are not on the right path to receive. What if there are elements about your behavior and your priorities that may be blocking you from growth in God’s kingdom? What if there are decisions you are making in your life that will lead you away from blessings God has in store for you?
What if there are decisions you are making in your life that will lead you away from blessings God has in store for you?
Here is something interesting. God gives us free will, right? We all have the free will to say “I’m fine with things just as they are. I’ve got this.” We have the same free will to ask God to reveal to us what is keeping us from being aligned with His will for us. With His plans for us.
Ok, Hypothetically speaking, if you were a master potter and you and God had the same pound of clay (stick with me here) and the same tools and materials to form something new, who do you think has the ability to form a masterpiece from something ordinary (Sarcastic) (okay, okay – I know God would not need any tools – but just bear with me to make a point)
Sure, as a master potter you could create something pretty neat I bet, but it would be nothing compared to what God could form.
Here is the good news. God is a Master Potter. You are the clay. You are already beautifully made. Your life decisions and experiences – both good and bad, amazing and devastating, and everything in between have formed you into what you are today.
Sometimes we have lived our lives in a way that makes us resistant to change. Perhaps we have hardened our hearts. Perhaps we are stubborn, lazy, or selfish. Well here is more good news. God is the only one who can take a hardened heart and work it into something new. Something flexible and moldable. Something that, in time, can resemble God’s goodness in Love and in Light.
Here is the great news. You are never a finished product. I don’t care what you have done or not done – whether it was 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago. I don’t care how old you are.. God can work with you as you are – be it flexible, be it rigid or be it broken into a million pieces. Only God can mold and shape you and your life to receive His perfect vision for you – if you ask Him.
I don’t care what you have done or not done – whether it was 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago. I don’t care how old you are.. God can work with you as you are – be it flexible, be it rigid or be it broken into a million pieces
In my walk with God, I know full well that I do not know all of the ways I can grow in my life, have a better quality of life. I may be aware of some areas of my life that I can improve. More exercise, less yummy food. But there are other areas that I know that only God knows.
So, I ask God every morning to mold me as He sees fit. Shape me into the man of God He knows I can be for His Glory and His Kingdom. To touch my heart and mind and rework me and my life as He sees fit. To show me, every day how I can serve Him, including recording this message for (point at screen) you!
What might that mean?
Maybe it means that I am willing to feel conviction in areas of my life in a more profound way that are to a lesser extent now.
Maybe it means that He orders my steps or even the steps of others to reveal things to me in a new way.
Maybe it means that He strengthens me in areas I am weak on my own, that He reminds me of His promises in scripture in times of fear or anxiety.
It even may mean that He opens a door that I was unaware of before, or closes a door that will take me further away from doing His will.
If you would allow God to mold you and shape you and your life, He can reveal things to you, manifest things in you in a way that you simply would not have learned on your own.
While every one of us is already -perfectly made- in the eyes of God, allowing ourselves to be clay to the Master Potter can leave us rest assured that we are in a posture of receiving His guidance, His signs, His influence. If we allow ourselves to receive His Light, we can in turn be a brighter light for others.
