Sifting and such.

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31-32

There is so much hope in Christ's words here to Peter. Too tired for complete sentences, however I will attempt to tell you all that this speaks to me.

Satan can't test me without God's permission. Now, whether this is true for all stories, I can definitely see a similarity between this instance with Peter and one several books back in Job. If that is the case, then I can draw that Christ also knows the outcome will end up with less of me and more of Him. I read somewhere that God is practical and he doesn't allow people to be sifted who have nothing they need radically extracted from their lives.

In Peter's case... perhaps he needed to be sifted in order to remove his pride, leaving a blank pallet for Christ to build the first Christian church. My case, less noble but I had to be stripped of my desire to be married. It sounds dramatic and cold, but when the drive to be married (harmless as it sounds) reigned higher in my heart than God... it needed to go.

Oh, the ugly sins it gave birth to: idolatry, discontentment, distrust... forgive me sweet Savior. You are everything I need. I've returned my eyes back to You and You alone. It was all about what I could gain, instead of what I was being called to give.

"...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteous of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ..." Philippians 3:8-9