Shaping Wind

For June 6th

Many trees are shaped this way along the coast. They are shaped as a display of the power of the wind. If they don't give in to the shaping they snap and are forgotten. Over time, day after day, week in and week out, year after year these trees are pushed into shape by the unceasing winds off the Pacific.

Each of us is shaped by the forces of life around us. We're shaped by the people we associate with. We're shaped by our family of origen. We're shaped by our choices driven by the desires of our heart. We're shaped by the forces of sin that wreck havoc in our physical bodies.

There is another kind of shaping that God wants to do in our lives. Paul describes it in the Book of Romans:

ROMANS 12:1-2 (Phillips) 

"With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity."

If we choose to stand in the wind of Jesus we can be shaped by Him, for His purpose, but only if we'll bend to His will. If we resist His shaping, we might snap - crushed, broken but not futureless. He is in the repair business. He can fix us but it will require our bending to His will. Jonah tried to stand against God's call and he ended up broken, smelly and defeated - fulfilling the call anyway (although reluctantly). Saul tried to stand against the shaping wind only to find himself stricken, broken on the Damascus Road. He bent and was shaped for Kingdom work.

I've watched individuals who were part of a church community for decades look like they're shaped only to find out they've been resisting all along. When trouble comes, when something happens they don't agree with, the display is accusations and anger, gossip and threats, often departure. It's an immature response. How can someone be involved in a church for years and years and be given responsibilities but never grow the character of Jesus? Certainly the church must take some responsibility. How was someone allowed into leadership who wasn't demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit? Whose heart was more about resisting than being shaped? Could it be they refused to bend to the shaping wind of Jesus? Difficult times expose our character.

I'm as guilty as the next Christ-follower for refusing to bend to the ways Jesus desires to shape my life. There are times I have chosen to ignore the nudge of God's Spirit toward a person to have a conversation. In that moment my heart hardened a little bit more as I resisted His shaping wind. Those times when I chose not to listen and learn because I said I already knew it all or even worse, I didn't like the teacher or leader! In that moment a crustiness began to form around my heart.

Dr. Kenneth Kinghorn, one of my professors at Asbury Seminary, said these words as we listened to two street preachers yelling outside the Administration building: "I gave God permission a long time ago to teach me anywhere, through anyone, at any time HE chose." That's an attitude that lends itself to being shaped.

Shaped BY God, FOR His purpose in this world. Where do you need to bend? Where do you need to soften your heart so the work of God's Spirit can shape you into His image? Where are you trying to fight God's forces and are in danger of snapping? Is your heart hardening or softening?