Made In His Image

Have you had something bad happen to you lately?  Have you been ignored by a loved one, found out you've been gossiped about, or endured some form of suffering?  What about the self-inflicted pain of feeling that you have failed?

I think about the very first time that I visited Mt. Rushmore.  I was struck by the sculptor's words:  "The faces were already there on the mountain.  I just removed the rock from around them. "

God, our sculptor, looks at us in much the same way: He sees the image of His Son already there!  He just removes the necessary rock from our hearts to reveal the divine image.  How do we know?

 Look at these verses (NIV) :

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
(Rom. 8:29)

" And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the Man from heaven."
(1 Cor. 15:49)

"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."
(ll Cor. 3:18)

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.   Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."
(1 John 3:2,3)

The things that come in our lives to shake us up, crush us, blast us -all are merely the sculptor's carefully placed dynamite, bringing forth that image.

Also think of a diamond, an emerald, a sapphire, or a ruby. All reflect a brilliance, but they are not exactly the same.  All must be pressed, heated, sanded, and polished until they reflect a dazzling light.  We, very different, will each have a beauty that reflects Christ's image, if we don't shatter under the hammer by hardening our hearts.

As we delight to make a craft, laboring carefully and standing back to admire its beauty , let us pause and remember that we each are God's crafts, that He is working on for His pleasure.

 As the apostle Paul spoke:

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2: 10)

Deb Glasscock