Romans 12:1-2

Babies are a bundle of joy and potential. Babies are not born with complete personalities and character. Who they will become is all there in the form of potential, but it is only with time that the potential becomes reality. The same baby that has the potential to grow up to be curious and brave has the potential to grow up afraid and cowardly. The child that may become generous and kind may become selfish and uncaring. Many things shape each child’s potential. A child’s parents have a great impact. Peer pressure and the educational system also influence a child’s development. The influence of a church can be a powerful godly influence. Tragedies, as well as good fortune, have an influence upon how a person’s life is shaped.

When we first met Jesus, we had all moved to somewhere between the bundle of potential we were as babies and the best or worst that we could have hoped to be. Some of what we had done and become with our potential was good. Much caused us disappointment, and some even caused us shame. None of us are identical and yet all were at a point where we needed God’s grace and mercy. Jesus met us right where we were, and not where we wished we were. Meeting Jesus, and accepting Him as our lord and savior, did not change the reality of who we were. We were still the sum total of what the influences of our past and the choices we made had created from our opportunities and potential.

The Bible refers to our salvation as being born-again. However, unlike a baby, we are not a blank canvas; we have a past and we already have an identity and personality. However, like a newborn, we are once again a bundle of potential. We are who we are, but with God’s mercy we have the potential to become so much more. God gives us a role to play in shaping our own clay.