One of my most favorite things is to watch those before and after pictures of homes on HGTV. There’s something so satisfactory about watching an old house transform into something beautiful, trendy, and fresh. It always makes me look around my house and imagine what could be.
Before and After
We love to see the after; but for most of us, it’s hard to see the after when you’re looking at the before…unless you have a gift like Joanna Gaines. I do not have that gift, and I am perfectly okay with that.
God is in the business of creating before and after pictures, but he does it through our lives. He has the amazing ability not to see us as we are now, but for what we can become.
Jesus’ Conversation with Peter
At the last supper, Jesus tells Peter that he’s going to betray him. Peter can’t even begin to imagine any circumstance in which he would deny Jesus. In the midst of this conversation, Jesus tells him something that is so key to understanding how Jesus works.
Jesus says to Peter, “After you have repented and turned again to me, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus could see past Peter’s failure to the man Peter would become, in spite of his failure.
God has always had the ability to look past what is, to see what could be. He started the world that way. He took what was and turned it into what could be, an amazing creation. All throughout the Bible, God sees people for what they could become.
How God Sees People
- Zacchaeus. Jesus tells him, “I’m coming to your house today.” He said that before Zacchaeus even changed his heart.
- Gideon. The angel calls him “mighty man of valor” even while Gideon is hiding.
- Mary. Gabriel calls her “favored” before she chose to go through with the pregnancy.
- David. God saw him as the great king of Israel while he was still a lowly shepherd boy.
- Esther. God saw a queen in a young Jewish girl.
- Samuel. God saw a mighty prophet in a small boy left at the temple.
- A little boy. Jesus saw a little boy who would feed over 5,000 with a simple lunch.
- Jesus saw some lowly fishermen as the men who would turn the world upside down for Christ.
Seeing Us for What Could Be
God has never been content to leave us where we are. No, he sees what could be, who we could become. So he pushes in on us and chisels and works on us, chiseling off the rough edges. He sends trials into our lives that change us and mold us and grow us into who he knows we can become.
He does all this so that one day, we can become the “after” picture. In heaven one day, we will look back at the “before” picture and not even recognize ourselves, and we’ll see that he was busy crafting and changing us and molding us into who he wanted us to become.
More Encouragement
For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, There’s Beauty in the Unmaking. A great book to read is Love Does by Bob Goff.