Becoming Spectacular

I'm a reasonably good person. I try to make good decisions, and I usually manage to get through each day without doing anything heinous. I'm generally polite and frequently cheerful. I look OK and have decent clothes and acceptable hygiene. I'm a pretty intelligent person, and I have a variety of talents and skills that help me accomplish tasks and contribute positively to my community. I'm kind of like a really serviceable used car—one that's not too flashy but is dependable and gets good gas mileage. I'm not a clunker, but I'm no Porsche either.

Most of the time I'm fine with being a more or less ordinary person who makes a modest impact in the lives of those around me. I don't waste a lot of time yearning to be a superstar or a genius. I have reasonable expectations of who I can be and what I can accomplish, and I'm generally at peace with that. Still, there is a part of me that dreams about bigger and better things and squirms with glee at the thought of the person I could become. I realize that I'm going to be an average person for quite a while, but I also know that eventually I'm going to become something spectacular, and that's pretty exciting. Through the saving grace of Jesus, I am going to become a new creation. God is already working in my life, and when He's finished I will be perfected. I will, in essence, become the best possible version of myself.

I know that this transition is going to take a long time. I don't expect to reach my full potential until I join God in heaven. That's (probably) a long time away, but it's still an exciting promise. Whenever I feel frustrated by my limitations and imperfections, I can remember that I won't always have those problems. Someday God will completely erase the stain of sin from my life and will infuse me with holiness so that I can be what He always meant for me to be. I'm just the prototype right now, the working model. Improvements are coming.

As I go through my daily life, I work to better myself. I learn new skills and try to train myself to be a better Christian. I exercise and watch my diet and get nice haircuts and the occasional pedicure. Still, I can only work with what I've got. I can try to make my body look its best, but I can't give myself an entirely different body. I can develop my singing talent, but I can't just give myself a natural aptitude for mathematics. I make little adjustments and take small steps to make myself the best little economy model that I can be, but God has the power to rebuild me from the ground up and turn me into something different. God can make sweeping changes in my life and give me power and attributes that I never had before. He can make me glorious where once I was plain and wise where once I was foolish. In my ordinary life, I can make myself pretty good, but God has the power to make me spectacular.

What's amazing is that God actually wants to make me spectacular. He doesn't look at me and see a dinged-up little Christian—He sees a saint in the making. God is constantly aware of all of the incredible potential that he instilled in my soul when I was born. As I go through life putting dents in the beautiful creation God made in me, He does more than just beat out those dents—He cheerfully goes about making improvements and upgrades, shaping me to be something so incredible that only He can imagine it. God loves me as both the imperfect person that I am now and the gorgeous creation that I will someday become. As I go through life dealing with my struggles and weaknesses, I can find peace in the knowledge that I will someday be made perfect by the hand of my loving Creator.

Right now, I'm normal. But someday, I will be spectacular.