The edit function

The last time I posted here I subjected you to a couple of my home movies. Now I'm the first to know I don't have one ounce of video expertise. I never even owned a video camera until three weeks ago! I like to think I'm getting better, but only time (and someone really objective---that is, my husband) will tell.

As I've carried my little camera around capturing footage everywhere I go, I've caught a lot of life on film---the good, the bad, the ugly, the frustrating, the hilarious, and the mundane. All the raw footage resides in iMovie on my iMac right now, but most of it will eventually make its way to the trash can, never to see the light of day.

Ah, the edit function. It isn't that I don't want to portray an accurate picture of life as we know it, it's just that I don't particularly want to showcase my own sin (or the sin of my children) for the world to see. It is a really great thing to draw the edit box around the 30 seconds of someone's squabble and just hit delete. Presto! Sin gone!

Oh, if only life were that way. As it is, I have no edit function for the multitude of math struggles and the rest of life's daily irritations. I can't drag a yellow box around the things I wish were different and hit delete (even though I really wish I could).

But even if I could edit out my bad behavior, Scripture teaches that I still need a Savior. I wouldn't see my need for a savior if I could deal with my sin myself. I wouldn't view my kids as less needy of grace if I could edit out their sinful struggles. I wouldn't pray and depend on God if I could just move my garbage to the trash can on my own.

Rest assured, I don't see sin as God's "gift" to me to learn to depend upon him more---James tells us that God does not tempt (though he does test). But I do see my lack of real-life editing skills as further proof for my desperate need for an editor---the Editor---with His skilled eye focused on editing my story into His, which is the greatest story ever told.

The name of His editing program? Sanctification.