Tree trunk or beautiful sculpture ?

Saturday July 24, 2021

We are clay, you are our potter, we are all the work of your hands. Isaiah 64.7

Turn to me and be saved, all of you who are at the ends of the earth ! Indeed, it is I who am your God and there is no other. Isaiah 45.22

Tree trunk or beautiful sculpture ?

"There are few people who fully understand what God would do with them if they let Him. A rough and shapeless tree trunk cannot suspect that it could become a beautiful statue, a marvel of art in between. the hands of the sculptor who can see what he can get out of it." So said a 16th century theologian.

The Bible uses the image of the potter and the vessels to talk about how God trains us (Jeremiah 18 ; Romans 9.21). Originally God created man in his own image. He gave him a mind capable of having a relationship with him. But very quickly the man disobeyed and turned his back on him.

God is patient, he loves us. He wants the happiness of every man, this creature so beautiful that he formed for his glory and to fill it with his love : "Bring back my sons from distant lands and my daughters from the ends of the earth, all those who carry my name, which I created for my glory, which I fashioned, which I made"(Isaiah 43.6,7).

Are we going to stay like a raw, useless, lifeless tree ? Or are we going to open our hearts to God who wants to make us something beautiful, worthy of him ? It's up to us to make the decision, to turn to God.

When we accept Jesus into our heart, God gives us new life, able to serve him. So, "born again", we can be useful to him and manifest the divine life which is in us. Let us let ourselves be formed by God, let him act in us.

Source (The Good Seed)