Chipping Away
By
Jeannine Sawall
“And
we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.”
2
Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
There is a story about
a sculptor who was working on a current project. He was carving a wolf out of a
large stone. As a man stood by watching the sculptor chip a little bit away
here and a little bit away there, he asked the sculptor how he knew what to
carve off. The sculptor stopped what he was doing for a moment, looked at the
man and said “I chip away whatever doesn’t look like a wolf. When I’m done
chipping away those unwanted parts, then I will have a wolf.”
We are like that block
of stone in the hands of God. While God loves us just the way we are, He loves
us too much to leave us in our raw state. He desires for us to become more and
more like Jesus. He wants us to grow and change and reflect His Son’s nature in
our nature. He does this by chipping away those things that are not like His
Son. Even though the chipping away can be painful at times, it means we aren’t
stuck with the nasty, unlikeable things in our nature. God is working to change
those things.
As Christians, we want
to bear the image of Jesus. Not because it makes God happy; He already loves us
in our imperfect state and not because it will help us get to heaven. Christ
died on the cross and did the work of salvation for all men. No, we want
reflect the image of Christ because it’s His image shown through us that draws
others to Him and His glory. As we become more and more Christ-like in our
nature, people are drawn to that “thing” that makes us so different. They’re
drawn to Jesus in us, which becomes more and more apparent as our old nature is
chipped away.
Having our rough edges
chipped away can be a long and tedious process; however, the beauty that lies
beneath is worth the lessons learned and the time required. It’s no mystery, we
are flawed people and we will never see perfection this side of heaven.
However, if we allow God to work in our hearts, chipping away all those things
that are un-Christlike, we’ll soon bear the image of Jesus and His glory more
and more.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What areas in your
life does the Lord need to chip away at?
2. Who in your life
needs to see Christ’s image in you?
Further Reading:
Jeannine
is a wife and mother of four active boys. She works in the property management
business. Jeannine serves in the Oakwood Cafe and is actively involved in
ministry to those walking through grief.
