March 22: WE DON'T NEED TO TRY TO CONTROL THE WORK GOD IS DOING IN OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES.

Affirmation: I am grateful for my body, mind and soul. God made me.

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Ponder, Personalize: Focus your meditation on what good works God created you to do. You are God’s handiwork.
Ephesians 2:8–10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

March 22

WE DON'T NEED TO TRY TO CONTROL THE WORK GOD IS DOING IN OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES. 

We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

EPHESIANS 2:10 

 

One of my best friends from college turned out to be an amazing artist. We gave him a hard time in school, telling him he'd always have a place to stay on our couch or in our basements. Then he surprised us all and made it as an artist! People pay top dollar for his paintings, and his work shows up these days in museums all over the country. 

When I look at his paintings, I think about where on the canvas he started and whether the picture resembles the one he imagined. I marvel over the way he could capture a moment in his imagination and then move his hands and brush and put it on display for the whole world to see. I don't think I will ever understand how he does it. 

I often think about what he'd say if I walked up midway through the pro­cess and told him he was going about it all wrong-that he needed more purple instead of red or swirlies instead of dabs with the brush. It would be ludicrous because I'm not the one who imagined the painting. I know very little about how to make the strokes that move an image from his mind to a canvas. The truth is, I make a better observer than artist. 

It must look a little like me telling my friend how to hold the paintbrush when we try to control the work God is doing in other people's lives. He cre­ated them, and He knows who they're becoming. He's got a plan in place to turn them into a masterpiece, and He's got the brushes He needs to make it happen. God sees the whole picture when He looks at His creation, and He knows exactly what we need when we need it. 

Have you been reaching for the brushes in someone else's life? Are you racing God to finish the canvas He's painting in your life? Take a breath. God's going to do what only He can do both in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. He doesn't need another artist to finish His work. His hope is that we'll delight in watching Him as He completes what He's started. 

What is God doing in your life or in others that will end up being beautiful and good?