| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “The power of hope” Our Bible verse for today: “Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The hope of transformation” In his book “The Sacred Romance”, author John Eldridge writes about “glorious ruins” such as the Parthenon, the Coliseum, and the Pyramids. Eldridge explains that even though those structures are in ruins – mere shadows of the glorious things they used to be, their original glory is still so evident that many thousands of tourists from all over the world visit them every year. They may be ruins, but they are glorious ruins. Likewise, human beings are “glorious ruins” of what God intended us to be; and just like the ruins of the Pyramids, our original glory is still evident. In every person there are intimations of the glorious being God intended us to be. The difference between those ancient ruins and the human ruin however, is that as time passes those stone structures continue to deteriorate and waste away, but the exact opposite is true of us. As children of God, we’re in the process of being renewed and restored. The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and is slowly but progressively transforming us into the image of Christ. That work will take a lifetime, and it won’t be completed until the day we arrive in heaven, but the restoration is in progress. Personally, I’m painfully aware of the fact that I am not the man God wants me to be. I’m all too familiar with the chinks in my armor, the flaws in my personality, and the sin that lurks in my heart. Yes, I’m a ruin, but I’m a glorious ruin because God created me to be something much better – and He’s in the process of renewing, renovating, and restoring me. I know I’m not yet what I one day will be, but I thank God I’m no longer what I once was. The hope that Paul wrote about in Philippians 3:12-13 – the confident expectation that he had for his life and that each of us can have for ours too, is that God isn’t done with us yet. He’s in the process of fixing us, and one day we will no longer be a ruin – glorious or otherwise. Instead, we will be the man or woman He always intended us to be. Now there’s something to be hopeful about! God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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