Recently, while restoring and transforming an old piece of furniture into something completely new, it reminded me of the reality of when we came to Christ.
We knew we were broken, in need of a savior.
Jesus never turned away anyone because they were too broken or too sinful. In fact, he said in Mark 2:17: “Healthy people do not need a doctor – sick people do.”
Luke 5:32 further adds: “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
What a sobering thought. The very object of Jesus’s mission was to benefit the lost, the ill, the lonely, and the broken. People like you and I.
The process of transformation requires much from us in the way of submission, vulnerability, and humility. The wood beneath my hands had to be sanded, washed, scuffed, smoothed, painted, rubbed, and finally sealed.
The wood I started with no longer recognisable, the end product was now a beautiful and useful product.
So too should we allow the great Carpenter to mould, scuff, and fashion us after the very image he placed in us, his image and likeness, much like in Jeremiah 18 where we read of the potter who breaks and remakes the vessel until he is pleased with it.
So, the next time you see a beautiful piece of furniture or a beautiful human being displaying the nature of Christ, remember both have most likely gone through much remaking and reshaping at the hands of their carpenter. We have this hope in Philippians 1: 6: “And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
- May the discomfort of staying the same be greater for us than the discomfort of the process.Lana Archontakis is of the Kingdom Ministries.
