John 1:11-12
Over the last 5 months, our family has been having work done on our home. New flooring throughout the house and new cabinets and countertops in the kitchen. That means we’ve been outside our normal rhythm and routine for a while. We are so grateful for the way everything is coming together, but the process of having work done can be challenging.
What we’re experiencing in our homes is something we all experience in life. Let’s face it, growth and change can be painful. We are all in process and Jesus, the Master Carpenter, is at work in each of us in unique ways. At the beginning of John’s gospel, he wrote,
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:11-12)
When John wrote “Become children of God” it seemed so easy – like it happens automatically and instantaneously. While it’s certainly true that our positional standing with God changes in the moment of faith, there’s still remodeling of our life that Jesus does. There are ways that he invites us to change; thought patterns he calls us to transform and ways of living that he empowers us to change. I praise God that the work of remodeling is his work and done by his power, but it’s a process.
Jesus is always working, so we are constantly in the process of becoming. Becoming his children. Becoming who he designed you to be. Will you embrace the journey afresh today? It might be painful, but it’s also beneficial. Pause for a moment and consider the work Jesus the carpenter is doing in your life. What phase of construction do you sense you’re in? Are you in the process of demolition? Are you in the rebuilding phase? Do you sense the work coming to completion in one area and maybe beginning in the next? Stop and pray that you would be an empowered partner in the remodeling work Jesus is doing in you.
Ryan Paulson