"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus..."
Ephesians 2:10
There is a bit of an aspiring artist in all of us. We would love to be able to take the creative thoughts that swirl around in our minds and put them on to a canvas or some other medium. Some of the more ambitious and talented among us will actually accomplish this in our lifetime, while most of us will simply dream of what could have been. We are amazed to see the accomplishments of great artists and to recognize their immense talent and skill.
One of the most amazing forms of art is watching a sculptor practice his gift. His tools of hammer and chisel seem so simple, but it is not the tools that do the majority of the work. When a sculptor first finds the medium which he is going to use, his mind begins to create far before his hands. Most people simply see a large stone in front of them, but he sees something completely different. He already knows what lies underneath all of the rock that must be chiseled away. The large boulder and slab that lay before him has a beauty that only his mind can see, but after long and excruciating hours the world will see what he has seen all along.
Our life is just like that rock; it seems to be cumbersome and insignificant. It is more in the way than it is a work of art. When we look at our lives, we can only see the past and present. Our beauty is not apparent, but it is simply because we are not looking through the eyes of the Artist. The Bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives that is divinely directed. From the day that He created you, God began the process of taking His hammer and chisel to your life. There were days that He knocked away great portions of our rocky surroundings, but we did not even feel it because it was still so far from our hearts. He was just beginning.
We began to notice the sting of the chisel when it came much closer to the core of who we are. Perhaps there was a day that God chipped away on some sensitive areas of your life that you thought would never leave. He may have allowed a relationship to be removed that you thought you could never live without. Or, He took painstaking work around some sensitive areas of your life that you hoped He would leave so you simply wouldn't have to deal with them. His hammer got so close to your heart that you could hear the swing of the hammer and the coldness of the chisel on your heart. Please understand that He is the Artist and we are His workmanship. When His chiseling, scraping, and cutting is done, there will be exactly what He had in mind all along. You may look at your life and not see a beautiful sculpture and work of art, but Christ does. He knows what the final masterpiece looks like, and He can't wait to reveal it before His Father in Heaven!
May you allow the Master to work today!
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