This
afternoon as I stood at the kitchen counter kneading bread dough, it came to
mind that we, just like the flour, water and yeast I used to make bread, have
to be worked and kneaded in order to fulfil our purpose.
The
more I worked the dough, the more pliable it became; soft and suede-like to the
touch.
A
physically tiring ten minutes and if skipped, would ruin the entire loaf.
As
I finished off, the bread now light and pliable, I realised that I am just the
same as a ball of dough in a bread maker’s grasp. I, like bread, need to be kneaded and worked
upon in order for me to become who my Maker intended me to be.
The
process is hard. I fight, I flail,
making my master work all the harder to shape me and make me soft.
My
life is one that requires kneading. It
requires the Creator, in whom I have put my trust, to work on my stubborn
heart.
It
is a long process, and if skipped would destroy me. Not everyone submits to it. Some turn it down, convinced they can do
without it.
In
the times when the kneading is the most painful and my hope is beginning to
fail, I feel my Master's warm and strong hand moving me gently; working me to
become the perfect creation. I have to
trust Him (Prov 3:5-6).
And
when my turmoil is over and I am set to rise, to become the masterpiece my
Creator had in mind when he first predestined me (Ps 139:13), my life on earth,
of hardship and suffering, will be over.
In
my heart I hear His voice...
'I
made you in my own image, dear one, to become what I planned for you. Through all the pain I had no intention of
harming you. What I wanted for you was
so much greater than anything else the world offered. That is why I had to knead you, work you into
what I wanted you to be (Jer 29:11).
Well
done my good and faithful servant...'
The
dough is shaped, smoothed and patted and left to rise...
It
is placed in the oven as a floppy mass and comes out a golden brown loaf. It is beautiful and well worth the
effort. It is what I, as the maker, had
in mind when I first took the ingredients out of the pantry...
Dear
friend, you and I are so like bread dough ourselves; sinful human beings living
in a sinful world where Satan has the upper hand. We have to be mixed and kneaded and prodded
and pushed in order to become the works of art the Lord predestined us to
be. But we have stubborn hearts. We fight and flail beneath the Maker's
hands...
Our
Creator wants us to be who He created us to be.
He wants the best for us. And He
knows the process is hard; it is long and painful. But the reward in the end is of greater
value, surely... The Word tells us that
the Lord has amazing plans for us and that He doesn't want to harm us. He wants to give us hope, a future of eternal
value.
But
the road to Life is hard. It is marked
with pain and suffering which is like the 'kneading' in our lives to make us
more like Him. We will experience
hardship, but if we embrace the will of the Father, the kneading of His mighty
hand, He can work with us, use us for His glory...
Jesus
wants greatness for us. But we sin and
make mistakes. Often we reject the
Perfect Plan and go after our own desires.
We stumble and we fall.
And
Jesus knows these things. He knows we
have selfish hearts full of conceit and pride and vanity. He knows.
And He sacrificed Himself, His perfect, perfect self on the cross to die
for us. To take our sins, our problems
onto His divine self. He who had no sin
became the living atonement for us. The
lamb who was sacrificed, whose blood was shed for us.
How
incredible, wonderful, amazing, awesome, astounding and glorious is that?
And
He forgives, He forgets.
He
kneads us, forgives when we struggle and forms us into perfect creations (Phil
1:6).
And
all He asks for this is that we allow Him into our hearts (Acts 16:31).
He
only asks us to invite Him in and ask Him to cleanse all unrighteousness.
He
can and He will. (Lam 3:21-23)
He
is waiting for you. Waiting. Waiting.
Will
you accept Him?
Will
you?
And
most of all, He loves you and has loved you with an everlasting love (Jer
31:3). It will not die. Ever.
Blessings
in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Kelly-Anne
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Acts 16:31