“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.” (John 1:12)
WE ARE BORN PHYSICALLY we resemble our parents, but when we are born of God, we resemble him. The problem (if you want to call it that) is when we first become God’s child we can be compared to a block of stone with him as the Master Sculptor. I will never forget one of my most intense and painful carving sessions. It happened soon after becoming a follower of Christ. I got involved with a woman who ran a prison ministry. She ended up being a modern day Robin Hood. She robbed from the not so rich to give to the poor babies she got from mothers in prison. As a naïve, young believer I learned the hard way that not everyone working in Jesus’ name can be trusted. She took advantage of my willingness to help and ended up racking up ridiculous debt on a credit card I let her borrow. God did some of his finest sculpting work, boundary building, and strengthening of my resolve, during that difficult time.
Thinking back on it, reminds me of a story I once heard about a sculptor who fashioned a magnificent lion out of solid stone. Someone asked him how he accomplished such a wonderful masterpiece. He replied, “It was easy. All I did was to chip away everything that didn’t look like a lion.” God’s Spirit does the same kind of work on us. When we become his child, he uses difficult life lessons to chip away everything in our lives that does not look like Jesus!
Master Sculptor, You gave me the right to become your child. Please continue to use my experiences, good and bad, to chip away the pieces that are not you. In your name I pray. Amen.