Not My Own

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. —Romans 12:1-2 MSG

I place my life before God today and surrender myself as His offering. I fix all my attention on Him. As this day unfolds, I embrace all He has for me. I face this day with the anticipation of His guidance, and also with the promise of His strength for what lies ahead. All I want is for Him to mold me and change me from the inside out. I want to be renewed in my heart and mind, and open to all He wishes to pour into my life. Like a sponge I want to absorb Him so that I might grow spiritually in my understanding of His grace.

Without spiritual maturity my life will have no emotional and mental stability. I will be like a ship on the sea with no anchor to hold it securely. Subject to every circumstance that arises, I will be tossed in the storms of life with no lasting peace. My mind will be so self-absorbed I will have no purpose but worry and fear. My ears will be attuned to the accuser's voice instead of the convicting and encouraging voice of God. However, if I learn God's moral truth and apply it instead of allowing “self” to rule my life—if I focus on Him instead of any circumstance and seek to be stronger as a result—if I choose to allow Him to mold my attitudes and purpose, I will be changed from the inside out. He will rescue me from the drowning waters of my own making, and set me on His rock-solid foundation of truth. I will recognize the lesson He teaches, and respond to it without hesitation. His peace will anchor me safely through the storms that always come. His joy will spring up like a fountain always offering a fresh perspective. His strength and power will always be there to rise above any circumstance or temptation. I will not be pulled back down to a level of immaturity that will ultimately destroy the life I have found in Him.

He is the potter, and I am His clay to shape as He wishes. He is the searing heat in the kiln of life which fires me to His completion. If I allow Him to be Lord of my life, He will bring out the best in me. I place my life in His hands to be created and transformed to His desired vessel. I am not my own. I am His.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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