The Youth Sunday School Room needs some spring cleaning and sprucing up, so Kenzie and I started that process this summer. We organized some things, ordered new décor, and started to add some new furniture. The furniture is the part that is and will take the most time to get together and organized. Like all modern mass-produced furniture, it requires the consumer to put it together themselves, usually coming with the bare minimum – a singular Allen wrench and the screws.
As I began to put the furniture together, I started with my usual process, taking each piece out of the box, laying out the screws, and cleaning up the packing non-sense. From there I always look at the main (big) piece or pieces and examine them, which almost certainly leads to me attempting to putting together the furniture without the instructions (this was the exact process for my first chair for the room…)
At this point, at least in my experience, this is where this process goes wrong – and its 100 percent my fault. I attempt to use the wrong screw or misalign the holes. So, after my own process fails, I then move to the instruction manual – which funny enough is given to you to keep you on track. Once switching to and following the steps of the manual, fighting the cheap, hastily made parts the process starts to flow; eventually leading to a complete piece of furniture.
I believe this is how we approach life before Christ, attempting to put it together on our own. We seek to put it together based on our own desires and ways, with not much worry for how it was designed to be lived. However, as all Christian’s know, Jesus changes this desire in your heart, drawing you near to him. He beings to place his desires and callings upon you to for the glory of God.
Here’s the thing, we know this but struggle to apply it to our daily life. In fact, Paul chooses to remind the Philippian’s of this, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13). He wants them to chase the Lord, as he lies ahead and has promised to take hold of them. How would one do so? Simply by looking to the Lord to do so. Asking the Lord the guide us on this road of sanctification- through his word and prayer. One of the most glorious and gracious things Jesus did for us in restoring our relationship with the Lord was not just appeasing him for our sins but actively interceding our behalf. He didn’t just fix the problem and leave us alone but rather promises to keep us in his grasp.
I often throw out the manual and instructions for my projects thinking I can solve the problem myself, and I am afraid often this line of thinking bleeds into my spiritual life. My call today is to take some time with Lord to re-gather in him, knowing that he has taken ahold of us as we look ahead to the hope of his glory.
-Slade Knowlton
As I began to put the furniture together, I started with my usual process, taking each piece out of the box, laying out the screws, and cleaning up the packing non-sense. From there I always look at the main (big) piece or pieces and examine them, which almost certainly leads to me attempting to putting together the furniture without the instructions (this was the exact process for my first chair for the room…)
At this point, at least in my experience, this is where this process goes wrong – and its 100 percent my fault. I attempt to use the wrong screw or misalign the holes. So, after my own process fails, I then move to the instruction manual – which funny enough is given to you to keep you on track. Once switching to and following the steps of the manual, fighting the cheap, hastily made parts the process starts to flow; eventually leading to a complete piece of furniture.
I believe this is how we approach life before Christ, attempting to put it together on our own. We seek to put it together based on our own desires and ways, with not much worry for how it was designed to be lived. However, as all Christian’s know, Jesus changes this desire in your heart, drawing you near to him. He beings to place his desires and callings upon you to for the glory of God.
Here’s the thing, we know this but struggle to apply it to our daily life. In fact, Paul chooses to remind the Philippian’s of this, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13). He wants them to chase the Lord, as he lies ahead and has promised to take hold of them. How would one do so? Simply by looking to the Lord to do so. Asking the Lord the guide us on this road of sanctification- through his word and prayer. One of the most glorious and gracious things Jesus did for us in restoring our relationship with the Lord was not just appeasing him for our sins but actively interceding our behalf. He didn’t just fix the problem and leave us alone but rather promises to keep us in his grasp.
I often throw out the manual and instructions for my projects thinking I can solve the problem myself, and I am afraid often this line of thinking bleeds into my spiritual life. My call today is to take some time with Lord to re-gather in him, knowing that he has taken ahold of us as we look ahead to the hope of his glory.
-Slade Knowlton
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