Growing is Painful

 I am a fairly tall person. Most of my friends are not as tall as I am, but I don’t tower over others either.  As a child, I remember many nights crying myself to sleep because of the growing pains in my legs. No one warned me this would happen, but it happened nonetheless. I would wake up in the morning with no memory of the pain for it would take place while I slept. The next night would be the same. The next morning, no trace.

         Growing in the Spirit happens similarly. Sometimes we are unaware of God’s plans and purposes. James chapter one reminds us that temptations, tests, and trials take place in the midst of our routine for the purpose of growing our character into the character of Jesus.

         We see in Corinthians where worship is designed as a goldsmith turns up the heat to purify the gold, removing the dross until he can see Himself, as in a mirror, in the molten gold. God’s desire is for Christ to be seen in us through our unique personality, for Jesus to be seen in our everyday life.

         The doors that God places before us are to give us new opportunities to die to ourselves and increase His kingdom. We must count the cost and remember no one gave more than Jesus. The glory that was set before Him is manifest in and through us!  Our desire must be His desire. We must daily present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, being transformed by the renewing of our minds. 

Will you open the door that God has set before you today? He’s waiting.