Daily devotional, August 15, 2024
Fairy Dust
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8
As a child who grew up reading fairy tales, I often wondered how fairy dust feels to the touch, and how it actually works. I have always thought of it as a happily colored, safe-to-eat powder that is doused on anything that needs magic.
Some decades later, I still carry that wonder in my heart. And sometimes out of frustration I find myself wishing that I had some fairy dust. I wish to have some, so that I could sprinkle it on myself and be the consistently patient mom I would like to be. I want to sprinkle it on myself too, so that I could just suddenly stop silently judging other people for no reason. Yes, I am still frustrated with myself because I cannot help but be the imperfect person that I am.
But imperfect as we are, we, as committed followers of Jesus must take heart that we have been loved by our Savior long before we even asked Him to forgive our sins. He had been faithful to us even back when we were still faithless.
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
And so, I calm myself with the Bible truth that God sees us through our imperfections. That He knows our hearts and can read through our minds. And when we come to Him to confess each time we sin, He will purify our hearts of our sinfulness so we can continue to have the peace that He gave us when we surrendered our life to him
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9
And as we continue to strive to live a life that is pleasing to Him, we must open our minds to the fact that when we pray to become more righteous, God does not grant that prayer by sprinkling fairy dust on us and then we just suddenly find ourselves being the good person we hope to be. He instead gives us opportunities to become the righteous and godly person we hope to become.
For instance, when we pray to become better and more patient moms, He does not wave a wand on us and we suddenly become a super gentle mother. He instead gives us opportunities to become more patient. These opportunities could be easy for us (like when our kids seem just adorable and we feel guilty that we are not patient enough with them), or it could be tough (like when the kids suddenly push all our buttons at the most inopportune time). Either way, the Lord will help us endure the training he sets up for us. And if we will strengthen ourselves in Him then we can muster the challenge and end up growing in Christlikeness.
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
1 Corinthians 10:13
In the end, it will be up to us if we will focus on our goal of being more like Jesus. His help will always be at hand, and He sure has long planned that we become the best person we can be. But we have to do our part too, and give the best we can for the Lord. We need to seek Him, walk in His ways, and try our best to align our will with His.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Ephesians 4:17-32 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: How are you striving to become more like Jesus?
Conversation with the Lord: _Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life. For your patience with me each time I fail you. Allow me to grow in Christlikeness my Lord, as I try my best to please you. Amen.
