Because of (our decision to follow Christ) we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look … Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other … God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now. (2 Corinthians 5:16–20; The Message).
This change from the old life to the new rarely comes immediately and announces itself with a fanfare of trumpets. More often, it happens quietly, over time, in ways we only recognize looking back.
We aren’t instantly perfected; we’re continually renewed. For many of us, it’s a lifelong process of a step or two forward, often followed by a step (or two back. Thankfully, God doesn’t expect immediate success … God offers grace.
Grace doesn’t simply forgive the past, although it does that; it also reshapes our future. This is sanctifying grace—the steady, patient work of God forming us into people of love. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t give up. And the outcome is more about God than it is about us. Our task is to give God space to work in and through us; to resolve to keep at it when we recognize we didn’t get it right. And, here’s the hard part, to not expect the perfection that we don’t have in anyone else either.
We aren’t finished projects; we’re God’s beloved works in progress.
That’s good news to carry into another day.
Where do you see signs that God is still shaping who you are becoming?
Prayer: Faithful God, thank you for not being finished with me yet. Continue your transforming work in my life today. Help me be patient with myself and with others. Amen.
