Christian Living

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Re-Purposed...Checking on the Condition

I was working on an item from my honey-do list the other day. This particular job dealt with changing the appearance of my deck. In order to accomplish this I was re-purposing pieces of the wood that I had for reuse, removing the old nails and checking the condition of these boards. I began cleaning the wood to utilize it elsewhere on the deck, and I realized that in some ways we have been re-purposed also. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior we were renewed in our spirits; became new creations in Christ, but we remained in our human forms. This is the area God begins to remove the nails and check our conditions
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Before coming to Christ, I made my share of mistakes. These I do not wish to repeat, knowing everything we do has a consequence. The Bible tells us in Galatians 6: 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The results of our actions can produce physical, emotional, or mental scarring that can become a part of our identity. Before long, every decision we make is based on past failures. We have our imperfections, nails if you will, but these are only standards made applicable to this life. Jesus died for our sins, so we would not have to pay the penalty of death. If we accept Him as our Savior, then our spirit is cleansed and made whole. Once we receive the Holy Spirit, God starts the process of removing those nails.

Think of it like this. Our lives are represented by a object, for instance your fist. Take your fist and suspend it out in front of you. Now, place some sort of covering over your fist, a rag tissue or handkerchief will work.. This will be a representation of the blood of Jesus. When the Devil comes at you saying, " What about that time you lied," he can't use this against you to question your honesty because it was covered by the blood. All of our sins were remitted the day Jesus gave His life. Back to the example. God is constantly working on our rough exteriors underneath the covering. Teaching us through His Word, prayer, and constant companionship. He is pulling those nails that have accumulated throughout our lives. All of those imperfections, knots in the wood, they are being smoothed out and polished. The blessing here is two-fold; not only are we being protected by the blood of Jesus, but God is working on the inside. Empowering us to continue to walk in the world, while at the same time, preparing His children for a walk on streets paved with gold. As with the wood from my deck, when cleaned properly utilization is still a possibility. God doesn't throw us away. We are all valuable.

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