Guest Blog: Allison West
What Does God See You As?
So as I was driving home from Winthrop yesterday, I was flipping through the radio stations and ended up on 89.7 WMHK. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with this station, this is the Christian station based out of Columbia that generally plays worn out songs from the 90’s with the occasional contemporary, not played out (YET) songs that I like to worship and jam to. After the string of songs ended that consisted of “By Your Side,” “Testify to Love”, and “I Can Only Imagine,” two of the WMHK hosts came on the radio with a “question of the day.” Here’s how these work… The station asks the question, and callers call in and give them an answer. Well today’s questions was “What do you think God sees you as?” My initial response was “A MESS!” However, before I could focus so much on that response, a caller called in with an answer to the question. This woman’s response to the question was “I believe that God sees me as the clay and He is the potter. He molds me and shapes me into who I should be.” Now obviously, this woman is correct. The bible states on many accounts that He (God) is the potter, and we are the clay. Take the following verse, for instance:
Isaiah 64:8
Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
My initial reaction was “Well yeah, that’s true.” But then I started thinking about how cliché that response is. I mean, how many times do we hear messages or sings songs about Him being the potter and we being the clay? So then the wheels in my head REALLY began to turn… which seems to happen a lot on my trips to and from Winthrop. What DO I really think God sees me as? As I thought about this question a little longer, my brain started to drift to a final exam I had just had a few days before. Don’t ask how this happened, my brain just works like that. This final exam was for my Choreography class. (I’m a dance education major.) We had to choreograph a 2 minute dance for ourselves and two other people. I started thinking about how I would really like to revise my choreography. I mean, I loved what I had choreographed, but I would really like to take away a few parts and add new material. Then I started to think about what my purpose was, as the creator of the work, for the choreography. In this case, it was to relay a message to viewers (about technology, but that’s beside the point.)
And that’s when it hit me. God sees me as a work, a piece of choreography, that He is constantly revising. He adds to me and takes away, which is all in his process of making me who He intended for me to be. And like the work I had just created, He created me to have a purpose… a clear, specialized purpose that is revealed to me and others by the movements, steps, and directions that I take. However, also like a piece of choreography, as I am revised, my purpose may also change. Finally, like any experienced choreographer knows, a work is NEVER finished. A piece of choreography may change slightly over years of being performed. A choreographer NEVER looks at his work and says, “That’s it! It’s perfect! It’s done!” No, there is ALWAYS something that can be changed. And there is ALWAYS something that can be added or taken away to enhance the purpose and meaning behind a work. In the same fashion, as a work of Christ, I am never fully complete.
Philippians 1:6
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
So my question is this…
What does God see you as? What is your purpose and your meaning here on earth? What is He is adding to you or taking away in the process of forming you into what He wants you to be?
