Goggles & Boots

Power surges are the worst. Earlier this afternoon, I had sat down to blog for awhile -- was going along, just writing away when everything shut down, just like that. Ugh!! We've had about 5 of those surges in little Richey, MT, today -- a few of them during my husband's sermon. Not sure what's up, but it certainly isn't conducive for maintaining your train of thought. Anyway, I'm trying again.

Right after church today, after everyone had left and my husband and I were picking up around the sanctuary, I told him, "I think this is one of those times when the difficulty of the week was commensurate with the impact of the message." Really, it was a hard week. The reasons for that aren't the point -- just that it seemed like we were slogging through muck, each in our own ways. Fashion aside, I should've just put on my knee-high black rubber boots and left them on all week. Maybe it would've helped me maintain a more helpful, giving perspective toward my husband and kids on a number of occasions when what came out of me didn't look like or have the fragrance of Christ.

But back to Paul's message. His message was called "Caution: God at Work" and it was based on the imagery in scripture about the church being like God's building; specifically, his building materials -- living stones. And if you're building with stones, what are the tools used to shape them? A hammer and chisel. While I haven't worked with stones as far as building something vertical and needing to chisel, I did build a flagstone path several years ago in our front yard. It was hard, sweaty work, and it required piecing the slabs of white stone together this way, then that way until I found a fit. Sometimes if I needed to trim a chunk off, I'd just take a hammer and get rid of a few unwanted inches here or there. It was obvious to see what needed to happen to the stone to make it the most useful for my path.

For us, though, it's not as easy to recognize where the inner chiseling is taking place. How will we respond to God's work in us if we aren't aware of the specific areas that need chiseling? This morning Paul talked about some ways to recognize it. What triggers anxiety and fear in us? Anxiety and fear are close cousins. What areas of life do you find yourself anxious over? Relationships? Money? What people might be thinking of you? How about what triggers frustration and anger; both responses to unmet expectations. Again, two closely related reactions.

God, in his sovereign wisdom, allows us to choose to yield to his chiseling work or resist it. His heart toward us is one of a Father, and he would say to us, "I love you as you are. I accept you fully. But I love you too much to leave you this way. Will you submit to my chiseling work?"

If we yield to his work, our sin and self stuff gives way to Himself. We resemble him more and more in our actions, words, attitudes, countenance, thoughts. And if people see Jesus in us, they are drawn to Him. Isn't it amazing that that's how God has chosen to work? Drawing people to himself through the transformed lives of those who are following Him, however imperfectly.

But what about resisting his chiseling work? Maybe we've felt the sting of conviction and decided that it's too hard to change. We're too far gone. No hope for ever being transformed into the image of Christ. Just never getting free of the cycle of sin, and in lie-based hopelessness, we check out and our passivity equals active resistance. What's at stake if we resist this chiseling work? Well, obviously, the only thing people will see in us is us.

As my husband disclosed some very poignant aspects of his personal journey in these areas (amid the power surges, mind you) I sensed God working despite the distractions. I knew he was working in me. I know where I resist, and I suspect you do as well. I needed the conviction that came today and am grateful for it. As Paul closed the message today, he said that he hoped that our church would be a place where there'd be figurative rock chips flying all the time as God does his work in us.

So along with our rubber boots, I guess we can add to our ensemble a pair of goggles and see how the Master chooses to shape all of us, his living stones, more into His image.