how can you live differently?

today's question at the end of the study is: how can you live differently this week reflecting on God's love displayed for you in the cross?

i love that caiaphas said 'it is good for one man to die for many'. i love that we can sometimes do or say things with one intention and God uses them - no! he orchestrates them! - for another.

i was thinking today of a friend of mine who can get under my skin sometimes. and another friend was telling me how they were moved by something the other one said. so moved that they are rethinking things and getting excited about God. i smelled smoke from the fire in their belly.

my first thought was - be careful, friend. be alert and watch.. for sometimes this other friend can get a little off base and i don't want you to be swayed.

and it dawns on me. this friend is truly moved! the spirit is moving in them. WOW! and it was a direct result of someone i reacted with caution about.

hang on a second! i am the world's worst. i mean, i do things and say things all the time that are contrary to my profession of Christ being my Master (if He were my Master, wouldn't i obey all the time? wouldn't i never sin?). and yet, God still chooses to use me. and people get motivated by me and learn from me. God reaches people through me. i don't understand why but He does. He uses me!!

why, then, would He not use others with faults? none of us are right on. no, not one. He uses us (praise Him!) because He wants us to recognize that though we are faulty, He is not, and His perfect work can still be achieved through broken vessels. all the better, then, to display His glory.

that's the whole point! why would it give me pause to see someone truly moved to act for God, just because God used a faulty vessel? and who am i to compare when my vessel is in the worst state of disrepair>

so how can i live differently this week reflecting on God's love displayed for me in the cross?

oh the very fact that He can use caiaphas and me and others to get to exactly where He wants to go, do exactly what it is He requires to be done,.. makes me want to 'keep doing my best, pray that it's blessed, and He'll take care of the rest'.

amen, He will take care of the rest.

there's hope for me.