Assembly Required

Recently I was reflecting on how fortunate nature is. I mean think about it. The wind, the waves, they obey the Lord always because they have no free will. The stars, the sun, the moon, they perform on cue. The rocks, the animals and insects, they worship the Lord in unison. How I wished I would obey ALWAYS, worship ALWAYS but then I realized what would I offer the Lord if I had no free will? What sacrifice would I lay at His feet. What gift would I have to offer? I realize, friend, that living out our faith can be a struggle sometimes but we have the wonderful gift of free will and with it we can bless the Lord. We can make Godly choices and give a sacrifice to the Lord that no other creation in heaven or on earth can offer Him. He longs for us to make choices that align with His perfect design. I was counseling a friend the other day that was struggling trusting the Lord in a certain area of her life and I shared with her that sometimes we don't have the whole picture. We don't see like the Lord sees, the beginning from the end. So, it can be difficult to blindly trust especially when trusting causes pain. It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle and you've only managed to assemble a few pieces. How could you possibly see the entire picture when so much is still missing. This is how the life of surrender is. We surrender when things are scary. We surrender when we are filled with uncertainty. We surrender when it doesn't make sense. We surrender when we think we have the best answers. We surrender when we're disappointed and confused. Why? Because, we trust the Master that designed our puzzle. We know that His plans for us are good. Just imagine how ridiculous it would be if we put together that jigsaw puzzle half way and decided to put it on display for others to see. What would they see? They'd see a half finished masterpiece. Not even close to how beautiful it had the potential to be. It's value would be nonexistent. It's beauty unappreciated. It's potential never realized. So after further reflection, I have decided that as beautiful and wonderful all of creation is and how magnificently you can appreciate its worship to the Great Creator, it pales in comparison to the wonderful opportunity He has afforded us to offer our lives through our free will as a reasonable, acceptable sacrifice of worship to His Majesty. Creation, if she had the ability would marvel at how fortunate WE ARE to have such a precious gift.

Dear brother, dear sister, don't give up halfway through the assembling of the beautiful puzzle your life is designed to be. Allow the Master free reign, surrender all for His glory and trust that when He has finished your life will be the masterpiece He so designed it to be.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1