God Made Me, Choices Shape Me

God created me, but since I have free will, He can only build me to the extent that I allow Him to. He physically formed me in my mother’s body and holds me together every minute of every day; but as I slowly grew old enough to start shaping myself, I became responsible for making the decision about what I would allow to shape me. Would I allow my Creator or the world to mold me? That is still a question I face on a daily basis. In a world that says that it’s best to live in the present, allowing God to shape me may not be the ‘fun’ option, but it is definitely the option with the better long term effects. Looking realistically at the direction the world is headed, why would I want to be shaped by it? But looking at God’s character and knowing for myself that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, Who better could I ask to be molded after?

I have found that as I choose follow Him, He gives me good desires in my heart and He will fulfill them in amazing ways as I chase them. I just get into trouble when I mistake the desires He places in my heart for the desires the world puts in my heart. How can I tell the difference? First, if I look in the direction the desire goes and I can see that I am likely to end up in a place where I will be closer to and more dependent on God, it is likely a desire He has given me. However, if it is going to take me to a place of separation from my Savior and closeness with the world, then it is probably not a desire given to me by God. The thing that I have to be constantly checking is my motives. Why am I doing what I am doing? Am I doing it because some super Christian in the spotlight says it is a good thing? Am I doing it because my Christian friends say it’s a good thing to do? Or am I doing it because I know in my heart that God gave me the desire and that He will work it out no matter how crazy it may seem?

Life is full of choices, and I for one do not always make the right ones – in fact, I make more wrong choices than right. But God’s grace is so much bigger then my mistakes, and He uses even my biggest failures in ways that are so far beyond what I am capable of. I could not have been given a bigger privilege in the is life then to serve this God!