Forthright Fixation

“But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” – Isaiah 64:8, ESV

It isn’t uncommon for our daily devotions to get a little dry every now and then, or pushed to the side, especially when we’re busy. However, my devotions have been great lately, where routine is concerned anyway. The constancy of my devotions ought to be commendable for any professing Christian but only if there is much being gleaned from them. I confess, from mine there has not been. They’ve been rushed. I’ve been distracted. To call them dry would be a terrible understatement. This has been going on for sometime, probably the longest I’ve ever noticed. There have been a few tell-tale signs that my head and my heart haven’t quite been matching up and I attempted to remedy this.

Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite authors and it seemed a good idea to read Passion and Purity again. “She [Elisabeth Elliot] always manages to push me to work for the Lord more by what she writes.” I penned in my journal one night a few weeks ago. That is what I love so much about what she writes. It’s always God–centered and my thoughts and heart haven’t been lately. My logic deemed reading her book a very good and effective solution. I was wrong. Instead of evoking a much needed motivational “kick in the pants” as it were, I found a stubborn resistance building inside of me.

Lord, I already gave You all those desires and wishes that I knew I needed to. They’re in Your Hands. What more do You want?
You know what I want, Kaitlin.
But I gave You all those dreams more than once, there aren’t even anymore to give? So why are You still prodding?
Because I want everything. Your dreams, hopes, wishes, desires, will, emotions, even your very life. Everything.
Everything?
Yes. Everything.

While reading Passion and Purity before has shown me the glory God gets when I render all of myself to Him, to be used by Him and for Him, this time I was determined to hold onto some things in order that I might receive the glory. But that is not the way it’s supposed to be. The lovely Lindsey Wagstaffe of Beauty from the Heart hit the nail on the head in her post The Truth About Insecurity when she wrote:

“Our Maker formed us, lovingly and tenderly, so that He might be admired. Whether or not anyone admires us is frankly insignificant; we were created to reflect the glory and beauty of Christ to those around us, not the glory and beauty of Me.”

God is the Master, I am the servant. He is the Creator, I’m the creation. He redeemed me by grace through a gift of faith, something I didn’t deserve. That doesn’t make me rank higher than other human beings. It simply means that I belong to Christ. I, in my entirety, am His forever.

He is the Potter, and I am His clay.

Filed under: Christian Living, Trusting God