Altered at the Altar

Last year, Linda, my mother-in-law, helped me to make a dress from a pattern I had found online. I was fairly confident all would be well until she wisely suggested we should try it on before starting to sew it together.

The pattern was WAY off and it was nowhere near as big as it needed to be!

I will never forget the hilarious moment when, trying to pull it around my chest, she looked at me and said “Amy, your bosoms are way too big!!” It’s not something you ever think your mother-in-law would say. Fortunately, Linda is a genius and found a way to alter it and all was well, and my dignity was kept intact… just!

Alterations –  whether it’s a dress, diet, or a discipline – are a fact of life and of leadership. New habits to form, old habits to drop, embracing new ways and releasing tired old concepts. Despite the fact that change is tough to swallow, we know that deep-down inside, effective and ever-growing leadership can only truly be forged as we learn to be okay with alterations in our own walk and discipleship with God, and in our leadership, and this doesn’t even include the bumps and surprises along life’s way.

Jeremiah 18:3 gives the strong metaphor of God being the potter and us being the clay:

“With his hands he shaped the pot the way he wanted it to be.”

How do we make way for God to do some alterations? How do we allow Him to tailor and shape us as He sees fit?

Romans 12 gives this encouragement when it comes to inviting God to mold and shape us…
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Throughout God’s word there is a clear call to give over our bodies, our lives, our relationships, our struggles, our success and our leadership positions to the One who is Holy. This is our true act of worship.

How do we learn to be ok with alterations? We lay everything back on the altar… over and over again.

John H Sammis puts it like this…

“But we never can prove
The delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay.”

By being on the altar we are altered.

Allowing God to alter us means we consistently lay down our lives and our positions saying “Have your way Lord, mould me, shape me, use me”, which begs a question or two!

Where do we need to surrender again and afresh to God?
What alterations do we know God needs to do in our thinking? In our actions? In how we lead?

I encourage us all to regularly come to the Altar… The altar is a place of exchange, a meeting point between divinity and humanity… the altar is a place where God meets us and where our lives are altered.

Let’s regularly make a choice to be altered at the altar.