Fearlessly and Gloriously Re-made

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) – Romans 8:12-25 [NLT]

Some years ago I took a Birkman inventory designed to help me understand how I work with people, how people perceive me in our working relationship, and how we can best work together. Two things came out of that experience. One is kind of sad: I am only a bit more aware of how I am put together, and therefore perhaps not as self-aware as I ought to be. The other learning – also a bit sad – is that most people who take the inventory provide results that say to me of my relationship with them, “This person will require the kind of support and supervision you least like to give.” Ugh. Alas, we live in a fallen world.

On the other hand a wonderful insight was shared with me by the pastor/counselor who helped me interpret the results of my inventory. He was thorough and kind, supportive and encouraging to me. He said, “It will be important that you have some creative outlet – outside of your ministry responsibilities – to help balance your life and emotional wellbeing.

Aha! Photography can fill a personal need to be creative! I discover great joy in creating photos which garner the attention and appreciation of others. That is a pale reflection of God’s creative glory. But it is a reflection nonetheless. Whenever we create anything: a poem, a meal, a piece of artwork, a quilt or a piece of furniture, we are reflecting God’s creative glory. And that’s what children do.

I can see it in some children more than others. I see his mother’s eyes. I see her mother’s turn of face. I hear her mom’s cadence and accent of speech. I see his father’s mannerisms in his personal interactions. I see his grandfather’s demeanor in the way he walks around. That’s what children do.

We are children of God. And God is never afraid. He is never worried. He is never at a loss. He is never flummoxed. And although we don’t always display those characteristics, when we fail it is because we are taking too much responsibility for running the world or keeping things going, or determining the way things ought to be.

So we love. So we forgive. So we are brave and courageous. So we are hopeful. As such we are reflecting God’s glory, character, and nature. For we are fearlessly and gloriously remade into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world.