God sees POTENTIAL...

   Carl Sandburg tells the story of the day Abraham Lincoln was born. A friend of the family, Dennis Hanks,  came to visit soon after he was born. That night Dennis slept by the fireplace rolled up in a bear skin. The next morning he took another look at the newborn baby and said, "Its skin looks just like red cherry pulp squeezed dry, in wrinkles." While holding the baby, the baby began to cry and didn't let up no matter how much Dennis tried to calm him. Dennis gave the baby back to his aunt, Betsy Sparrow and said, "Take him! He'll never come to much!". (You know the rest of the story - Abraham Lincoln became one of the great presidents f the USA! - God saw his potential) 


  Over the years we have probably thought that same thing about kids and teens we have worked with. We see the way they behave and act and say in our heart "They will never come to much!" The great thing about our God is that He sees the real potential in each of us. Paul was a man that had a terrible past and yet God got a hold of His life and turned a murderer and persecutor of Christians  into a servant of the Lord. God used him to reach many people for Christ and start a slew of churches. God sees our potential, not just our failures.
   When a potter picks up a piece of clay to make a beautiful bowl, he sees the finished product in his minds - not the hunk of clay.  God sees the finished product. That is also why He was willing to go to the cross to die for us. It was because of His great love for us and He saw our potential - Through Him.