But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.  Isaiah 64:8

As I write, facilitate support groups, council, and discuss my own situation, the subject of God’s work to refine, shape and equip is always a significant topic.  While I certainly don’t enjoy the pain and suffering associated with my health issues or the negative impacts of them on my family members, I rejoice in what I have endured due to the changes that they have brought in my life…especially my spiritual life.  Whether it is physical, spiritual or mental pain, I know that God is at work refining me and perfecting me…especially when I choose to cooperate with the process rather than fighting it.  I rejoice because God desires that I be more like Christ and adequately equipped for each task that He has planned for me.  God in His love and mercy is continually at work to mold me into the man that He envisioned before time.  (Ephesians 1:4)  I also trust that He is doing the same for you.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  Romans 8:29

By definition, as members of the body of Christ, we are also members of God’s family.  As His children, the Father’s principal objective for us is that we conform to the image of Christ…His firstborn Son.  All of the events of our lives; the joys and the pains, the interactions with others, the teaching we sit under, the study of His word, and the prodding of the Holy Spirit move us closer to that end.  Christ is the perfect model.  The more like Him that we become, the more productive and beautiful we are.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6

God is a God of certainties.  By that I mean that His plans are never thwarted and what He starts, He finishes.  That is true of us as well.  God has a vision of who we are to be and what He wants us to do.  He is shaping us into that image just as a sculptor chisels and grinds stone to fashion it into the vision they had for the piece.   The beauty of God’s work is that, unlike a marble statue, we don’t have to be completed to be useful.  We must merely be receptive to His spirit at every stage of our development.  Each opportunity to serve our Lord is also an opportunity for growth and refinement moving us closer to that final creation. The thing is that God’s vision of us … the beauty that He sees in us is clearly set in His mind and that is what we will become.  He will complete His work of art.  A work that is both pleasing to Him and useful in His service.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.  2 Timothy 2:21

Which way are you looking? 

At birth, we are much like a rough hunk of marble.  That is, we are raw material in the hands of God.  When a skillful sculptor starts, the big chunks come off relatively easily.  So too, God starts working on us and as a rule, it’s a fairly benign process that doesn’t involve much pain.  However, once our rough image is completed, God really gets down to work and that’s when it often starts getting painful.  A disappointment here, a trial there, a bit or two of grief and things start to feel like life is more than we can handle. Sometimes, a significant life event hurls us into the process more quickly.  As we see and feel Him at work, we must choose where our attention will fall.  Will we trust Him and watch the refinement process in awe and allow God to work freely as we see our image constantly improve and become more and more like Christ, or will we focus on the bits and chunks falling to the floor occasionally trying to reattach what God has removed because we don’t like the modifications?  Those bits on the floor are our presumptuous sins, character flaws, foolish thoughts, careless actions, and our idols.  As they fall to the ground under the expert hand of our heavenly father, we are cleansed to become vessels of honor. 

Again I ask:  where are you looking?  …and where am I looking?  This process demands attention and choice in three ways.  Do we focus on Christ and the model that He provides while joyfully accepting the refinement that makes us more and more like Him or do we look at the secular world and seek to mold our lives into a form that is considered by men to be successful and fulfilling?  As we recognize that life is more that we can manage on our own, do we look to God and draw near to Him seeking His sustaining grace and provision trusting that He will complete His work or do we focus on our trials and disappointments allowing them to fill us with fear, anger and frustration?    Finally, do we look to the fleeting comforts of this world for contentment or do we look to eternity and its everlasting joy and rewards?  The Lord has given us the freedom to choose and has set before us life and prosperity, and death and adversity.  Our Father’s love, our Savior’s sacrifice and the urging of the Holy Spirit beckon us to choose life and prosperity that we might enjoy eternity with our Creator.

The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Will

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