Philippains 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ"

Our scripture (Philppians 1:6) tells me that our lives (which are lived in a daily PROCESS by way) need to be about being molded and shaped into all that God is calling us to be. This scripture tells me that I will find myself in this process of the Lord’s hand being upon me to accomplish that until I go to be with Him. He is the Potter, and I am the clay. Now I’ve never heard a piece of clay scream “ouch!” when a sculptor is knocking off one of those rough edges, but I sure do feel it in myself in the context of God’s chisel upon my life. Let me tell you something; if you belong to God, and you’re currently breathing, these times of testing WILL COME. Why? Because God is a progressive God, and God’s desire is that we are always GROWING. If we’re truly being molded and shaped into the image of Christ within us, things had better be changing, whether we immediately notice them or not.

I was just outside a bit ago looking at the beginning of progress on our project. The thought came to me: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just snap my fingers and this was all done?” It would be great, wouldn’t it? I wouldn’t have to put up with any more of this waiting on the contractors or endure any more of the “un-pleasantries” involved, and I could just go on with my life. After all, I have more important things to tend to. But do you know what? If that happened, I would find myself standing on the other side of this ordeal, maybe happy for a bit, but no different than I was when this whole thing started. That’s the real tragedy. God uses the PROCESS to mold us and shape us. Without the process, we don’t change. We’re not conformed into His image. We don’t grow, and that not only doesn’t help us, but it doesn’t help anyone else either.

Oftentimes we define being “blessed” as “having no current issues to deal with”. Let’s face it, being blessed is not the absence of issues. The absence of issues will only happen when we leave this body. These times of testing that I’m talking about will come, and they mainly deal with our flesh (our desires, wants, attitudes, the things we have convinced ourselves that we must have to be happy, etc). Often the Lord is requiring an exchange. He wants us to open our hand to Him and give those things up so He can place something inside of our lives that is of greater value. That causes a departure of sorts, sometimes a “tearing away” of old habits and thoughts, and that can be painful. It’s easier for us to point the finger at someone else and blame them for our pain rather than allow God to deal with us, realizing that WE may be the one with the issue.

In our walk with God, the things we believe and we SAY we believe will be tried and tested. Our faith will be tested. Again, something that has not been tested is not PROVEN. If we’re honest, our lives are more to us about being comforted than about being challenged. We say we want to change, and we want to grow. We say we want to see things different, but we don’t want to face the challenges. We don’t want to endure. We must realize that a lack of testing is never conducive to growth. If we are going to grow, we’re going to be tested. We have to ask ourselves if life is really about others, as Jesus demonstrated and taught us, or is it about us?

God does test us and make requirements of us. He refines us as a Refiner purging His precious metals from the impurities and the dross. I’ll never forget what happened to me years ago. I was going through a similar situation at the time. I walked into church for a mid week service, and as I was just getting to my seat before worship started the Lord spoke something to me that I will never forget. He said, “There is no one that has ever been refined that has not gone through the fire”. Wow. Think about that one for a bit. God desires growth, and He is the One at the heart of it. Not is a destructive manner, but in a loving manner. We need to be bright enough to recognize it and allow it to work in us.