Charles Dickens opens David Copperfield with: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
Is this God’s vision of what I called last week – “the greater version of ourselves that the Lord had in mind at our creation” – to cast us as the protagonist in the story of our lives?
I say yes, but that’s not all. Even being the hero of my own life falls short of the height to which God calls us.
In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis quotes nineteenth century author George MacDonald, “God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”
God stands on the frontline of our fallenness ready to pour compassion on our wounds and forgiveness on our faults. The Lord is even generous enough not to open our eyes to all our weaknesses all at once, but gently unwraps the anatomy of our demons as we become ready to confront them.
Even so, God is relentless in the pursuit of our transformation. Going back to Mere Christianity, I share the image Lewis adopted from MacDonald:
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew these jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of … You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.
We are the houses that God builds. The Lord stands before us ready to direct a series of renovation projects that will ultimately transform us into gorgeous mansions: good and faithful servants of God and our fellow humans.
For updates on my book, or more information about me, continue to check back to this blog! I will also be frequently updating my Facebook Author page, as well my twitter account, @AuthorMcNabb, and my LinkedIn account, Katie McNabb.
2 Responses to What God Makes of Us