Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We all would love to have the golf swing of Ernie Els or Adam Scott. Instead, we are closer to the action of Charles Barkley than Charles Howell III. It’s hard to accept, but most of us are simply not flexible, athletic or talented enough to recreate impact the positions we see on television. Our world and sadly many of our churches try to do the same with Jesus. We try to mold Jesus into what we think he should be to fit our situation and religion. Many in the world accept religion and it’s formalities, but get uneasy when the Jesus tries to enter the realm. We’ve been taught the formalities of worship – when prayers should take place, when we take up an offering, and what songs we should be singing. We are taught, “Jesus doesn’t like us to alter from our program” and “surely, he doesn’t expect that type of worship and living a ‘sold out’ type of sanctified living.” We don’t mold Jesus, Jesus molds us. He wants and we need him to control both our professional and personal lives. He is to be our marriage counselor and our model for how to raise our children. Using Jesus as our model gives us the best chance for a successful family just as a fundamentally correct golf swing promotes an effective approach to hitting a golf ball consistently. We may not be able to shape ourselves into the perfect golf swing, but allowing Jesus to work in our lives gives us an effective approach to the trials and travails of life. We will make a bogey or hit out of bounds from time to time, but His scrambling percentage is 100% when we use His recovery plan!