Squeeze Me, Lord

His purpose is not the development of a person—His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure.—Oswald Chambers

So I’m reading these words from My Utmost for His Highest this morning, and I’m struck by the sentences I underlined a year ago. They impressed me then, and no less today.

In the past few years I’ve really been torn between the desire to fully express who I am and fully express who God is in me. I believe He gives us all things: our talents, our holy desires, our passions.

But Chambers is right: . . . it is not what we gain (my thoughts: success, outlets for our creativity, satisfaction in being fully ourselves) but what He pours through us that really counts.

So I’m going to keep pursuing the dreams I believe He's given me—staying “fully alive”—but I’m going to remember: God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us.

For His purpose. His glory. Amen.