Before and After. Daily Devotional - February 1, 2010

Daily Bible Reading: Genesis 33, Mark 4, Esther 9-10, Romans 4

As we are putting together our Space Makeovers for the single mothers in our church, I find myself envisioning what we want the rooms to look like. Last night I decided to glance at the "before" pictures that we took so that I could get a little extra inspiration.

As I was looking at the pictures, I was taken by surprise. The room that I imagined in my head was not the room I was looking at. I forgot what the room currently looks like because in my heart it had already transformed into the "after" picture that I imagine it will look like.

As I looked at those pictures, I felt the Holy Spirit remind me that He too sees the final product in us. As we allow Him to shower us with his amazing grace and forgiveness, He no longer sees something that needs work - He sees an image of his son Jesus. He sees the great destiny that we will fulfill for His glory and the child of God we are created to be.

I decided to read today’s Bible reading in a couple different translations, listen to Romans 4:17-18 in the Message translation:

"We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do."
　
God already called Abraham a father before he actually became a father. God didn’t see Abraham as old and barren, even when that is how he saw himself. He looked at Abraham and saw a father of many nations. Abraham may have been a "nobody" in the world’s eyes or even in his own eyes, but God looked at his faith and knew that he was able to use him to do great things.

Abraham trusted that with a word, God could make something out of nothing. God could look at a childless old man and call him father, and it became so. You might look at your life and see the "before" pictures, but God sees the "after." Do you have enough faith to believe that with a word, God can make your nothing into something?

Enjoy the journey!
Mel