"Appearances can be deceiving. It looked like an ordinary chunk of wood, down to the uneven splinters that protruded from its eroded sides. The object had the unexpected heaviness of solid rock. It was a piece of petrified wood, brought back from Arizona by my in-laws.
It takes nature 100 years or more to create a piece of petrified wood.
The process begins when a piece of wood becomes buried under sediment, preserved for a while due to a decomposition-inhibiting lack of oxygen.
Over many years, all of the organic material is gradually replaced with inorganic stone. The result is a three-dimensional fossil.
What started as wood is now a completely different substance — solid stone.
The process begins when a piece of wood becomes buried under sediment, preserved for a while due to a decomposition-inhibiting lack of oxygen.
Over many years, all of the organic material is gradually replaced with inorganic stone. The result is a three-dimensional fossil.
What started as wood is now a completely different substance — solid stone.
The transformation happens one molecule at a time.
It’s a great picture of the amazing transformation God is working in every believer.
“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it,” Paul wrote the Philippians.
A part of our participation in that process is learning to die to self.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it,” Paul wrote the Philippians.
A part of our participation in that process is learning to die to self.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
What does dying to self look like?
You might be tempted to think it is some momentous decision, a one-time event done in extraordinary circumstances.
More often, dying to self involves decisions made on a much smaller scale.
"For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body…" 2 Corinthians 4:11
It is the process of one small choice at a time to put aside our own desires and agenda in obedience to God and his purposes.
You might be tempted to think it is some momentous decision, a one-time event done in extraordinary circumstances.
More often, dying to self involves decisions made on a much smaller scale.
"For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body…" 2 Corinthians 4:11
It is the process of one small choice at a time to put aside our own desires and agenda in obedience to God and his purposes.
“Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,” Paul wrote the Romans. It is not easy to say no to ourselves.
But in those small, everyday decisions, choosing God’s agenda ahead of our own, we are getting ourselves out of the way and learning to depend on him.
But in those small, everyday decisions, choosing God’s agenda ahead of our own, we are getting ourselves out of the way and learning to depend on him.
John the Baptist understood this principle. “He must increase,” he stressed, “but I must decrease.”
More of His agenda. Less of mine.
Like the minerals that eventually replace organic material one molecule at a time, creating petrified wood, dying to self opens the way to transformation and taps us into the amazing power of God.
Won’t you transform?"
More of His agenda. Less of mine.
Like the minerals that eventually replace organic material one molecule at a time, creating petrified wood, dying to self opens the way to transformation and taps us into the amazing power of God.
Won’t you transform?"
Julie Coleman is a seminary graduate, speaker, and freelance author. With contagious enthusiasm, she brings hope and encouragement to everyone in her audience.
Her warmly personal and insightful messages make her an effective and well-received speaker.
More of her writing can be found at www.juliecoleman.org.
While her days of teaching school are now over, her twenty year career earned her the title of Anne Arundel County Teacher of the Year.
Julie is a wife and mother and makes her home in Annapolis, Maryland area.
Julie is a wife and mother and makes her home in Annapolis, Maryland area.
My Good Gift – Karen Aker Posted on Christian Devotions
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