“And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.” — Ezekiel 36:27

The Potter and His Clay 

Rookies can sometimes overpower their opponents with brute force and incredible foot speed, but all athletes must learn new techniques and reinvent themselves over time in order to remain competitive after their steps are slower and their strength is diminished.

If we want to motivate ourselves to continue to grow professionally, then it’s beneficial to see daily works in progress. For example, we don’t like roadwork delays, but we like smooth roads without potholes. As we drive along, we see a lot of people on the side of the road wearing a yellow vest. They are pouring wet asphalt to resurface old roads, make two-lane roads into four-lane highways, and build new roads. We see sweat rolling down the faces of the road crew as they carefully shape the asphalt before it hardens in place.

During our lifetime, we are like wet asphalt which hasn’t hardened yet. We can make adjustments and change for the better. Since life is unpredictable, it’s helpful to choose early on to shift our focus toward God. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Therefore, the Bible says, “… prepare to meet your God …” (Amos 4:12). 

The loving God wants to be our friend and our guide. He welcomes us to admit our sinfulness and turn to Him for a new heart and a better life. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Therefore, Jesus spoke about starting a new life as a Christian. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). From that day forward, our thinking and doing is rearranged by the Lord. So God is the potter and we should be wet clay in His hands. “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him” (Jeremiah 18:4).