I couldn’t tell you what it is God sees in me that He feels is so worthy of the sacrifices He’s made for me. I was raised in a small town in a common way, with down to earth parents. In school I was the biggest nerd of them all, and I mean the biggest in more ways than one. Do you remember that kid in class, you know, the over weight one that always dressed in the latest fashion from ten years ago? You remember that kid, right? That was me! My biggest gift was running my mouth, and half of the time I just stuck my foot in it. I thought I would die every year that I went back to school. I was the teacher’s pet, but every child’s worst nightmare as a friend. My mother taught me three simple rules though.

1. First that other people do not see what God sees and that God always loves me.
2. Second, people make fun of other people when they cannot believe in themselves.
3. Third, that my momma would always love me!

I know that not everyone is blessed to have that last one. However, everyone is blessed to have the first one, and we can make some resolution on the second one. You see, God sees something in each one of us that we will never see in ourselves. There is a beauty within each of us that only the Master Potter can see, and only He can find. First Peter 3:3-5 says, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of a plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves . . ." The most beautiful treasure that can be held within the earthen vessel of our body is Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, the Bible tells us “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. “ (Proverbs 31:30) God seeks in us a desire for Him. God desires from us a wholehearted devotion to Him. We, like the disciples, are asked to be willing to surrender all. It took me a long time to come to grips with the fact that God wanted everything I had. It seems like a simple concept, knowing that God owns all that we have including us. So many parents say, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.” God truly does have the option to leave us in this world or remove us. Job served God with all that was in him and yet still lost it all. Yet, through it all Job served God with all his might and was rewarded. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV) It was through these words that I learned that I truly must be willing to surrender it all. I must die to Christ so that He would be seen in me. The most wonderful thing about a pot that the Potter makes is how it serves the Maker.

But lest I make it seem that the only part of service to God is the sacrifice let me remind both of us of the lesson that King Saul learned. In his amazing ability to half obey God, King Saul learned that God has a distaste for disobedience that is worse than that for lack of sacrifice. In I Sam 15:22 Samuel poses a question to Saul. He asks Saul, “. . . Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams (I Samuel 15:22).” Together obedience and sacrifice bring us into a closer walk with God, and give us the beauty that only He can offer.

About that second lesson I learned. I cannot tell you how the kids who made fun of me in school felt about themselves. I can tell you though about how I have learned to feel about myself. Psalm 139:14a says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . .” I know I could not win a Mrs. America contest by any means. I praise the Lord though, that he looks on the inside. He knows I eat too much, and He knows that I mess up all of the time. He also hears my cry for forgiveness and forgives my sins as He washes them away. I made me who I am; I chose to eat too much, or I chose not to pray as much as I should. God makes me different though; God makes me new. God lets people see in me a beauty that I do not see. People have asked me what it is that makes me stand out, because they don’t see what’s so special about this plain, plump country girl with the drab brown hair. My God is my only beauty. He is the only thing great enough to cover all of my sin and create in me true beauty.

Believe it or not I am a masterpiece. Don’t let it scare you; God’s not done yet. As evangelist David Ring says, “God doesn’t say oops.” God didn’t say oops when He made me, and He didn’t say oops when he made you! I had one dream as a child, to change one person’s life. I want to change yours by telling you that God has a plan for you. He desires your life, and He desires your heart. If you don’t surrender, will He find someone else to do the job? Yes, He will! But He didn’t send His Son so that you could walk away from His plan for you. That was too high of a price to give you up easily. He sent His Son so that He could forgive you and you could be part of His plan. You are wonderfully and beautifully made, and the God of heaven and earth wants to use you as the vessel that you were intended to be. Are you ready to be molded? Are you ready to give it all in order to get it all? God has chosen to put you in this world, and He has left you here for a reason. What are you going to do?

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