August 16th

Your Ultimate Interior Designer

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 Ithink it is so fitting that Jesus was a carpenter when He was on Earth. Do you know why? Because He has always been a craftsman. In fact, He has been the maker of every single greatest masterpiece that has ever been made.

He is the one behind all the masterpieces that are so wonderful and amazing that we don't even put them on the same lists as the great achievements of men-masterpieces like the Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon rainforest, the galaxies of the universe, and most of all, the crowning achievement of His craft-the human soul.

What has mankind made that can compare to the works of God? The Sistine Chapel? Sorry, but God actually made the people and angels that Michelangelo depicted on that ceiling-oh, and He made Michelangelo, too. The Golden Gate Bridge? Well, God made all the parts that went into it, not to mention the people who designed and built it.

It doesn't matter, whatever you come up with that man has made, it only serves to glorify God that much more because none of it would have happened without Him somewhere behind the scenes making it possible.

But it's not like this is a competition. And how sad for us if we start trying to compare things like this and miss the point of it all, which is that, amidst all the distractions of the things mankind has created, we-you and me-we are God's crowning creation.

Yet what so often happens is we become enamored with what we think we can build for ourselves in our lives instead of relying on our Creator, the Great Architect who still holds the original blueprints for our lives. He understands the design, the purpose, the abilities, and the potential that each of us has. And He has crafted all of those together into an incredible set of magnificent plans.

And what are His plans for? Our verses today tell us-His plans are for peace and not for evil, plans for hope and a future. Now, I'm sure that all of us today desire these things in our lives, yet if we pursue them according to our own designs, we will fall far short of them.

Only when we let God be who He is-the Great Designer of our lives-will we find these things we so deeply desire.

Prayer Lord God,

Thanks for reminding me that You really have good thoughts and plans for me and that I can trust You to make more of my life than I ever could! Please come and have Your way in me today!

Amen