Recently, in response to one of my prayers, the Lord said the following: “I will continue to prompt you, never fear. I will also transmit, transport, and render. Tenderly render.
“What do you mean?” I asked Him. (Not an infrequent question on my part). He responded by telling me to look it up. (LOL God never stops being a parent.) I knew the words render and rendering as related to making a model or depiction of a design, as well aa its meaning of ‘giving to.’ (“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”+). Beyond that, i had no idea how many other meanings there were for the word. Here is what I found for render (verb):
- To make; to cause to be or become
- To do, perform
- To furnish, provide……afford, contribute, supply, give
- To exhibit or show….including obedience, attention
- To present for consideration, approval, payment, action
- To return, to make a payment, as by a tenant to a superior
- To pay as due (tax, tribute)
- To deliver formally or officially; to hand down
- To translate into another language
- To represent, to depict, as in a painting
Immediately, the thought occurred to me: “Lord, if You are ‘tenderly rendering’ so much to and for me (and to all those who put their trust in You), what am I tenderly rendering back to You?” Am I ‘showing obedience and attention’? Am I ‘representing’ You well?
“Explain more about what You meant by tenderly rendering me and then how I can better render what will make. you happy in return? I look at the dictionary list and realize the distinction between formally giving you Your ‘just due,’ out of obligation, versus tenderly desiring to respond in love to what You are creating out of my life.
I see Your Artist’s hands at work, molding the lumpy, awkward parts of my personality, my actions, my disappointments, and my failures. Massaging them in with the happier more joyful, fruit-bearing parts.. Tenderly sculpting, scraping off bits here and there which need to be removed, smoothing out the rough places. Lovingly turning my aging struggles and my lifetime of experiences into someone who can tenderly partner with You according to Your plans in rendering others. Others who will render unto You the love and fruitfulness You deserve and who desire to see more of Your form and beauty manifested in their lives. Are there relationships for me to form, mentoring to humbly provide, mothering to do, targeted, surgical prayers to offer, unconditional love and encouragement to lavish?
I looked again at the definitions:
Meaning 1: “To make, to cause to be or become.”
Meaning 2: “To do, to perform.”
Meaning 3: To supply, furnish, provide.”
You, Lord, are the Renderer. You do the work. You provide and cause and perform. Our part is to be willing, to be surrendered. All the while You continue the sometimes painful process in us, the beauty of others is being enhanced. If we’re operating in the fruit and gifts of Your Holy Spirit, no one else knows but You. Despite how we may sometimes feel about our lack of usefulness (including some of us in our senior years), You are never at a loss. You say, “I can work with this!” You don’t set us aside, broken. Even when we make mistakes, are too lazy to obey You, or temporarily grieve You, Your creative juices still flowto create ‘beauty from ashes.’+ You rub Your hands together with glee and declare, “My child, there is so much more to come! Give yourself to me every day for continual rendering, that I may sculpt and paint your life, as more and more of Who I Am is manifested through you: My light, My Shalom, My creativity, My joy, My forgiveness,, My Agape love.. Until one day I take My unique rendering of you Home with Me, where your fuller, more beautiful life will truly begin. And while you’re at it, let your continually rendered self encourage as many others as possible along the way, that they will one day rejoice with you There.
**********
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10
+Matthew 22:21
+Isaiah 61:3
If you missed my two “No Greater” posts, you might want to go back and read those: February 14 (No greater love…) and February 19 (No greater creativity…”.)
*To find earlier posts: If you’re on a phone, click ‘see Web version’ at the bottom of the post, or open my blog on a computer or tablet. All posts since 2015 are listed on the right at Tennyandi.blogspot.com)
An ‘oldie but a goodie’ from the very early days of contemporary worship:
