The Necessity of Daily Renewal

Each of us is a unique individual, created by God with a specific purpose and without duplication in mind or spirit.  Imagine a sculptor taking raw, dry clay and slowly adding water to form a malleable material.  In the artist's mind a vision of the finished product already exists and his work is to form a mold that expresses that vision when filled with the artist's medium.

For each of us, the Artist began with an image in mind. He fashioned a mold and poured in our flesh and blood, our emotions and intellect, and our spirit.  In Eden, Adam and Eve fit perfectly in His mold and were perfect renditions of His creative work.

But they, and each of us in turn, having been given a choice, chose to change the shape of His creation--in our rebellion we no longer fulfill his intent for us.  We resemble the original in flesh and blood, but that is failing with age and disease.  Our emotions are flawed by our willfulness and the distortions of sinful anger and selfishness.  Intellectually we are dulled no matter how we may deceive ourselves as individuals or as a society.  And our spirits have withered in their separation from the hands of the Master.

How do we recover? How do we return to be the creation that God intended when He first formed us?  In my mind, in my prayers, I ask God to return me to dust--not to take my life, but to spiritually accept my confession that I have rebelled against His intentions, and humbly ask Him to return me to the first raw product of His creative process and to begin again.  Add again the water of life to my dried clay.  Reshape me to the original design He saw for me before the Earth or I were formed.  Renew my flesh and blood, heal my emotions, restore my intellect to His purposes, and reconcile my spirit to His, so that I fit the mold and emerge as the image of His creativeness.

We wake up each morning with a choice of how to approach our day.  The "wild animals of the day" (C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity) assail us and we are immediately confronted with the temptation to be self-centered, cynical and unconcerned about God and our fellow man.  If we do not submit to God, awaiting His reformation, we risk going out in our cynicism and selfishness. If we allow ourselves to be ground back to dust through repentance and confession, we are the clay in God's hands to be reshaped again that day into His purposes.  If we make a habit of being open to His reformation each day, we approach, asymptotically in this life, the shape of His original creation, and prepare ourselves for the full realization of His intent for us in eternity.


Father, help us to renew our minds and spirits in Your truth daily.  We age physically in an unalterable process over which we have no control.  But we can be reborn in spirit and renewed in mind and spirit through your grace and mercy.  Help us to avail ourselves of those daily opportunities.  Amen.