eVotional: Romans 8:29
Into His Image
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29
Before the foundations of the earth were set into place, there you were as a plan in the mind of God. You are a person with a destiny, with a destination, and with a purpose. In all the quests to find purpose, the quest that has produced the most for me is pursuit of my savior. We can rest, REST, assured that where we are now is also part of who we are. And it is part of the plan. It doesn’t always, or doesn’t often, feel that way. I don’t mean that suffering, if we are experiencing it, is always of God because it is not always his will depending on the situation, but the big picture is not one we are accustomed to looking at. We are being trained to look at a picture God is painting for us, and one that we are not familiar with. Thus, our training period is underway showing us how.
You can take a quarter and set it on the ground all day long, and it will accomplish nothing. You can place it on the most luxurious car and it will still be a quarter without any accomplishments. Just because it has a purpose, doesn’t mean it is accomplishing that purpose. Its purpose will be fulfilled when it’s either invested or spent. When that quarter is even fed into a parking meter, it accomplishes something. It makes something happen and fulfills its purpose: a trade for goods or services.
To the same effect, your value accomplishes nothing without correct application. Your value, your image was created for a purpose. You were fashioned in the image and likeness of your creator. You too are a creator! Some of us create life. Some of us create pictures and books. When we look at ourselves as having a form of godliness, that we were put here on purpose, and that God loves us specifically because we are who we are, it is easier to love ourselves: and we must because to not appreciate who we are is to not appreciate who made us. Unless we appreciate the value of the quarter, we won’t apply it. Appreciate your immense value in the kingdom.
It is more important to be who you are than to try to achieve some kind of position or authority because it looks like it would be a nice place to be. Part of loving who God made us is also loving our limitations. We start crossing into covetousness when we don’t appreciate boundaries. Our gifts, talents, and desires, often intersect at a given spot. That’s where our love and passion is. That’s where our calling is. You can find it! If you don’t know where it is, knock and the door will be opened.
Many distractions are sent to you by your enemy in order to stop you from prospering in the body of Christ; in the Spirit of God. A Son has been given as a testimony of the greatness of God and the value of our call. We are life-giving, miracle-working, captive-freeing, bond-breaking, glory-giving, sons and daughters of a living God! We are determined to accomplish what God has pre-designated us to be!