Today\'s Encouragement

Today’s Encouragement

Do you like all of those catchy memes or t-shirts that give you short little encouragements for your day?  Maybe you even have a calendar that gives you an encouragement each day.  “You are special”. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”.  “Reach for the sky today”.  “Make a difference”.  I have an idea for one. I have never seen it posted or wore as a t-shirt but I certainly have not seen all of the daily encouragements that are out there.  I am not sure it will catch on and it is a little long.  Ready?  Ok, here it is...”God’s purpose for you today:  Glorify Him while he conforms you to the image of His Son”.  Maybe not the shot in the arm encouragement that we are used to but maybe it would help us put each day in perspective.
Romans 8:29 shares with us that God saves us and then begins to conform us to the image of Jesus.  This process continues until we are in glory. Each day is another step in his conforming work in our lives.  One thing you may realize is that verse 29 follows verse 28 (I went to three years of seminary to gain that kind of brilliant insight). Verse 28 is that famous verse that teaches us that God works all things out for good for those who love Jesus.  Verse 29 allows us to better understand what that good is.  Each day, each circumstance, each relational encounter, each bad driver, all of what happens today is being used to help conform us into the image of Jesus.  All the happenings of today are meant to help manifest the fruit of the Spirit in your life.  Love, joy, patience, meekness, etc. are given to you and the more you live them out in your life, the more you become like Jesus.  Today is designed by God to reveal that process of being conformed into the likeness of Jesus.
Our role in all of this is to seek to glorify him in all things today. When we seek to walk in obedience, seek to know how he would have us respond, then we place ourselves into the optimal position to be conformed into the image of Jesus.  Filling of the Spirit, prayer, and seeking him in the Word of God are the ways in which we understand how to respond like Jesus in the days God gives us.  This seeking of the things above prepares our hearts to see Jesus in all things.
This takes some dedication and effort on our part.  This takes a good amount of humility to let go of today and realize that all of our days are about Him and not about us.  This takes some intense Bible study to realize and know what God is doing in our lives.  While a greater understanding of these things will bring greater joy, they also bring a sense of soberness to each day as we realize what is at stake.  All of this may be too much for a t-shirt or a short meme. Maybe it is too much to think about in a short amount of time.  So maybe I better leave you with just this, “Stay cool”.

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