WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP

Last week I wrote about the need to “fine-tune” our devotional life using Hebrews 12:1 as the basis for the article. Most of the focus in that post was on taking some things off (becoming an ultra-lighter) and putting others on so that we run the race of life with the best possible level of effectiveness.

 

I have been reminded over and over in my spirit that “fine-tuning” is not a one-time event but a lifetime process. My first car was a 1949 Ford Coupe with a big, V-8 engine. When I got my Ford in 1961, gas cost about 20 cents a gallon and three or four dollars bought me enough gas for a week—oh, the good old days! The carburetors on those engines could be adjusted by hand and we would spend a lot of time playing with the carburetors trying to get the engine to run a little better. We worked hard to “fine-tune” our hot rods!

 

This is very much like the “fine-tuning” process of our devotional lives. Your devotional life is what defines your life with God. Going to church, singing in the choir, paying your tithes, doing volunteer work, doing good deeds and even witnessing are all anecdotal. While it is interesting, it does not define who you are in your relationship with God. How you live out your personal life with Him is defined by how you carry out your personal commitment and communication with Him, i.e. your devotional life.

Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19, NKJV). As the Lord is calling Peter and his brother Andrew into His service, He is addressing the part He will play in assisting them to develop their potential as His followers. The word “make” is loaded with meaning. It is the word that describes an author as he takes disconnected words and thoughts and begins to work with them until he completes a story or an article. It also is the picture of a craftsman who takes rough wood and works with it until he has the piece of furniture he has envisioned in his mind.

I believe the Lord has three pictures of each of us in His view. The first is of us before our conversion; the second is of us as we are now; and the third is of what we can become. It is this third picture that becomes His ideal as He “makes” us. The process of “making” is a cooperative work. He does not overwhelm our will; He certainly could but He doesn’t. Sometimes, of the three pictures before the Lord, the “then” picture and the “now” picture are virtually the same because of reluctance on our part to cooperate with Him. The word obedience comes to mind as I think about our need to cooperate with the Lord’s plans for our lives.

The heart of every piano is the soundboard, which is the part that enables the piano “to speak” with rich and full tones. It is the soundboard that gives the piano its personality, its quality. A quality soundboard cannot be made in a few minutes or even a few hours. For concert pianos, the time needed to build a soundboard can be a year or longer.

 

A soundboard is made of separate pieces of wood that are carefully selected and glued together. After the gluing, the wood is allowed to dry and “season.” All along, the process is carefully monitored so that the moisture content of the wood that is to become the tonal heart of the piano is just right.

 

After the wood of the soundboard has dried and seasoned, then it must be stretched. This stretching is what brings out the rich tones and quality. Stretching is achieved by slightly bending or “crowning” the soundboard. Stretching is a result of pressure being carefully and consistently applied. If the wood is too dry, it will break and crack; too wet, and the wood fibers will not have the necessary quality.

 

When the soundboard is crafted properly, you have the possibility of a Steinway or a Yamaha. If it is done wrong . . . well, you get the picture.

 

Our Lord, His Father, and the Holy Spirit are “Master Craftsmen” who are working with the third picture of you in view. It is the meticulous attention of the Master Craftsmen that brings His work of art as near to perfection as He can get it. That is the Lord’s goal for each of us. He will mold us, He will stretch us so that we are brought to the place of maturity, and then our lives will “speak” with the richness and fullness of God.

 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).