Dear Living Stones,
Michelangelo once said something like, “Inside every rock is a work of art waiting to be revealed.” Every beautiful stone sculpture started as a nondescript rock. The eye of the sculptor imagined something else. With that image in mind, the artist wields chisels, hammers, and other tools to reveal what the rock is hiding. After painstakingly hacking away excess materials, the artist’s image is transformed into an object for all to see.
Michelangelo was a great sculptor. And he, like all of us, is a work of art created by our Father in heaven. But even he needed to undergo painstaking chiseling, cutting, and hammering to be formed into the ultimate creation God desires. God has indeed created us in His image, but the reality of what God intends for us to be is hidden beneath the excess baggage caused by our sin. This baggage, which weighs us down, prevents us from being what God desires for us to become. This would be a terrible tragedy if it weren’t for our heavenly Father’s love for us.
God tells each of us, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” (Isaiah 51:1) God longs to shape us into the creatures He created us to be. He does that by hammering, cutting, and chiseling away the things preventing us from becoming what He created us to be – His children. The Holy Spirit, working with the two-edged sword of God’s Word, enables us to confess our faith in Jesus and His work on the cross. He has hammered away the eternal effects of our sin. Then God’s Word shows us how to love as He loves – transforming us into instruments He uses to transform others into His children too. It can be a long, difficult process to endure, but in the end, trusting God’s work in our lives, it’s worth it as He makes us holy – reflecting His image – just as He intended.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim