1Corinthians 13:4-5 – Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.
God promises us that we will undergo many tests and trials in this earthly life, but that we can rejoice in them because they are a tool for His work in us (James 1:2-4). They serve first to expose our hearts–both His already good work, and His yet needed good work. Then He uses them to shape our hearts, like a potter shapes clay (Jeremiah 18:6). The pressure we feel in our trials is as the pressing of His thumbs upon our heart clay.
One obvious focal point of this time of testing under household isolation is that of our household relationships. So what is this now-monthlong trial of increased confinement together exposing in your household relationships? Are you wearing on one another or enjoying one another? Are you seeing patience and kindness, or the opposite? Are you being purposeful in expressing love and encouragement, or taking each other for granted? What is the good being evidenced? What needs to change?
The divine Potter does not call the clay to shape itself, but to be pliable and submissive in His hands. What does that mean? That we desire and welcome the changes He would make in our lives. That we not resist, but cooperate with His Spirit’s work. That we remain humble and teachable. That we be repentant, as having a log of sin in our own eye, compared to the sliver of sin in the other person’s eye (Luke 6:42). That where we find ourselves lacking in any of this, we ask Him for it (James 4:2).
What will you do today to align yourself with the Potter’s working in your life and household?