From Creation to CallingSample

Our culture loves solutions. We’re in constant pursuit of the quickest diet, the most effective energy drink, and any tip or trick to “fix” our appearance, performance, and even our personality. We can’t escape the targeted ads that seem to read our minds, offering us options to improve our style and appearance, and selling us on the promise that once we possess their products, we will achieve happiness. But what if God’s design wasn’t for us to fix our own flaws?

Whether it’s a physical impairment, a personality quirk, an uncontrollable circumstance, or something else, what if God had a plan for the very real brokenness that comes with those things? And what if that plan, instead of just erasing our problems, involves God, through the Holy Spirit using and transforming them for His glory and our own good? Believing this doesn’t mean we pretend our flaws don’t exist or that we downplay how painful they are. It means we can acknowledge our own weaknesses and flaws without despair. We can submit ourselves, in all of our brokenness, to God and trust that He, in His great grace, will work through us and empower us to live according to His purpose for our lives. It means we don’t engage in a battle to hide our weaknesses. Instead, we see them as places God’s strength is on display. We admit them and entrust them to God, confident that His power will be at work in us. And we look forward to the day when Jesus returns and gives us resurrected, glorified bodies that are totally free from the brokenness we feel.

Reflection Questions:

1. How does the world respond to our flaws? What does it push us to do about them? How is God’s response different? In what ways is it freeing? In what ways is it challenging?

2. Have you experienced God’s strength on display in your struggles? Have you seen this play out in anyone else’s life? Take some time to thank God for His strength in the midst of difficult times or as you learn to accept your flaws. If you’re struggling to see this, ask God to show you how He wants to use your weaknesses and flaws for His glory and your good.

3. Many of us feel trapped by our self-conscious thoughts, and we’re constantly worried about our flaws and how others perceive us. Ask God for His help in moving from a place of self-consciousness to self-awareness, where you don’t live in denial of your weaknesses, but where you trust God to work in and through them.