Elasticity

I often hear talk about the need for flexibility in leadership–flexibility being defined as being adaptable and responsive to change as opposed to being rigid. Elasticity has a similar but slightly definition: it describes a quality that enables a substance to change its length, volume, or shape in direct response to a force effecting such a change and to recover its original form upon the removal of the force.

If God has called you into leadership, you can pretty much count on the truth that He wants to stretch you.  He wants to stretch your faith muscles.

There are those times when God puts us under pressure. It is as if we are the silly putty and God is the one doing the stretching. Sometimes He stretches us by putting us in situations that require love and patience. Sometimes He stretches us by allowing us to be irritated by some individual. Sometimes God stretches us through some temptation that comes our way. Or we find ourselves in a situation that really causes a lot of frustration, which in turn stretches us.

But here is the question. If God is stretching us, what is His end game? Is He just allowing us to get stretched out of shape so we will be some distorted Christian? I see a lot of distorted Christians. These are Christians who actions and words do not appear to be Christian at all. To be honest God is not trying to cause distortion in our lives. He purpose is to make us more Christ-like. When He stretches us, He is showing us areas of our life that are not like Christ. He is chiseling on us and pulling on us to make us look more like Christ.