My friend, a professional writer and author, encouraged me to take some courses in writing. She was my editor. I submitted my assignments to her and she would send them back with red pen corrections, changes, deletions and additions. You could’t miss the edits. My pieces were always better, more succinct, clearer and more profitable with her edits.
That’s just what God does! He edits our biographies with his transforming pen. To edit is to change or make correction.
In I Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul reminds the church that they were once wrongdoers of every sort – transgressors and idolaters, thieves, greedy, sexually sinful, BUT verse 11 says, “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our god.” Their lives had been edited by His grace.
We see this all through the Bible. King David was an adulterer, a failed father, a murderer – yet in I Samuel 13:14, God refers to him as “a man after my own heart.”
Abraham, the father of many nations, slept with his wife’s servant and told half truths multiple times, but he is called “a friend of God.” (James 2:23)
Rahab was a prostitute of Jericho. As Joshua recounts, she hid two Israeli spies, AND she is called a woman of faith in Hebrews 11. And in Matthew, chapter 1, she is listed as a direct ancestor of Jesus.
Peter denied he ever knew his Savior (John 18), yet Jesus commissioned him to shepherd His flock. (John 21)
When we confess our sins and shortcomings to God, and by faith, receive forgiveness through Jesus, God begins to edit our life biography – if we allow Him.
You see, I had to let my friend make all those red pen changes. I submitted to her, knowing my work would stand.
God’s edit pen is filled with the perfect blood of His Son – His transformative strokes can re-write our histories. He can erase our transgressions, change our identities, delete our miseries, correct our direction and add HIS name to the dedication page. And, we can live the destiny that He planned for us!
~Vickie Richey
Christ Fellowship