Day 13 -- Transformation

Scripture is full of powerful juxtapositions. There's the Law...that which convicts us not of our perfection but of our lack as we seek to live into the commands of God. Then there's the Gospel...the reality that the Law that is demanded isn't satisfied by you or I, but by Jesus and his work of reconciling the World to himself in the cross and resurrection.

Then there's the determinism of Scripture...the sense that God begins creation with a vector and that somehow, though the target seems to be a moving one, the outcome to this whole mess is in God's sight, and in the cross and resurrection a done deal...not something that will have to be agonized over. And yet, somehow in the predestination of God's plan, there is the choice, imperfect and flawed and marred by sin, to follow Jesus into this future, not kicking and screaming, but under whatever personal volition we can muster.

And then there's this other dichotomy: that of God's complete acceptance of us, and his simultaneous transformation of us. These two things seem to stand in stark contrast. If we're God's children and his love for us is complete, just as we are, why would there be need for transformation? And if there's a need for transformation...what then is God really loving?

Let me come at this whole dichotomy sideways. You know, the interesting thing about the creation accounts in Genesis is that the Rabbi's always understood creation to be an ongoing thing. Even with the apparently discreet six days of work and the seventh day of rest...there's a sense in which the world is still in process...history and the world are unfolding towards something. History is NOT in fact circular. It IS cyclical...but it has direction which leaves us not with a circle but a spiral that turns and that is always driving towards something.

I think this is how it works with us. We're God's workmanship. He made us. And at the same time, none of us is a finished masterpiece yet. Which is what makes it such a profound thing when the master gets a hold of us. We're his work...and he's still working.

I think that when you come at acceptance and transformation in this light...it's possible to see them not as competing priorities...but as the process of creation in us and for us, for the purposes of God. They go together. They need each other.

A potter sits at his wheel and with wet hands feels the nature of the clay...knows its characteristics, its possibilities, its very life -- and in the midst of that knowing LOVES it. And as he loves it, he brings out in the clay a shape and beauty that is nothing short of divine.

God loves you. And because of this, don't be surprised if he transforms and changes you. He's the potter. You're the clay. You're God's creation in process.

Perhaps you are like me: you can't wait to see today what he will create...