Dust

If we could only see the end result of the things we are doing right now--not just the result, but the direct cause and effect.  What would we do differently?

There is no way for us to know that, but God does know.  We can only rely on Him and trust him to reveal the things that need to change.  More than that, we must rely on Him for that change to come about.  We cannot change our own hearts.  Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart. 

It is the great miracle of salvation--the greatest miracle of all.  It is a thing which cannot be accomplished by human effort.  We can change our actions, but what good is that if our hearts are unchanged?  Does God look at only our actions, or at our hearts?  If we look good on the outside, is that enough for Him?  No.

We will never change ourselves, but God will change us.  We have no power to alter our course.  We have only the power to trust, to believe.  And we have the power to surrender.  The power to surrender!  How amazing is God that He is willing to do all the work?!  He knows we can't do it.  He always knew.  He took on all the responsibility--for paying for our sin, for changing our hearts, for everything.  The only thing we are capable of is giving ourselves to Him, surrendering to Him, being willing to change...or at least, being willing to be made willing.

How weak, how frail we are!  We think we're capable and strong, but in reality, we are only dust.  And what can dust do?  Nothing at all!  Not on it's own, anyway.  But in the right hands--the Right Hands--dust comes alive.  It lives.  It breathes.  It becomes a thing of beauty. 

Oh, how our very lives are a miracle and we don't even see it!  How arrogant we are to think we hold any power of our own!  All we have is that which has been given to us.  We are dust.  We are only dust.  He is the life, and only He can make us alive.

Whatever we become, whatever legacy we leave behind, will be only by the grace of God and proportional to our surrender to Him.  We are nothing.  He is God.