The Road to Righteousness

This life, therefore, is not righteousness
but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it;
the process is not yet finished but it is going on;
this is not the end but it is the road.
All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified. - Martin Luther

This quote comforts me but at the same time frustrates me. It is a comfort because I am aware that I do not yet reflect the image of my Savior. There is still much polishing and refining to be done within my soul. Luther writes of the process we are in - the process of being remade into the image of God.

On the other hand, I am frustrated with the journey. I don't want to walk another year in the wilderness of Sinai. I want to reach the destination now. I want to lay aside the weight of sin that so easily entangles me. I am anxious to be rid of the pull of sin...yet even my impatience shows my need for further cleansing.

The verse that Luther alludes to is a favorite of mine. Its promise is great.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:2

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Day by Day

Day by day life happens. Often it feels as if I don't have much control over the things that happen in my life or in the lives of those I love. And I guess I have lived long enough to see that the reality is I don't. But rather than being left in despair, I have hope. My hope does not come from what I can see and feel around me; I fear that would leave me in despair, for life is hard. My hope comes from the One who created me as well as this world I live in. Life is not spinning out of control. This life is straight on course; this life, my life, is speeding straight into eternity. We are headed toward life eternal. In the meantime, I can live each day confident that His purposes are being accomplished and that nothing can thwart His hand. There are many sitiuations I see and experience that I do not understand. But this I know: we rest in the arms of a God who loves us greatly, who is working out His purposes, and whose hand cannot be thwarted.