Saturday November 19, 2011

Read Romans 8:28-30

 

Picture yourself standing before two magnificent and inspiring works of art, each created by a different artist. Even so, both wooden artworks are identical.  They tower above you and sing glory to their respective creator/artist. A stranger passes by and asks you, ‘Which do you think is the greater artist?’ How can you answer? As you scratch your head, he reveals the hidden secret to you. The first artist found the highest grade timber in the world from the most reputable dealer and used the best machinery and tools available. The second artist went out in the local tips looking for dead, used and abandoned wood scraps. He found the most mangled and deformed and knotted wood scraps you could ever imagine. He then took them home and worked on them with his own hands.

 

Now you tell me, who’s the greater artist? The first or the second?

 

When God calls the sick and the unhealthy, the unlovable and the unlovely, He’s like that second artist. He seeks out the rubbish, the bits that society has thrown away and works lovingly on each one with his own hands.

 

God has a purpose in His choosing the weak, the sick, the unhealthy. He lovingly and carefully prepares us for heaven. In effect we are works of art that one day will be displayed in God’s art gallery for all to see. All creation will marvel at how God chose and worked with such ordinary material. All creation will see how God moulded us and shaped us to be more and more like His Son Jesus and how He lovingly perfected us by rubbing us with the sandpaper of circumstance. They’ll see how the polish of time and the lacquer of His Word has left a crystal clear, holy coating that shines.

 

As you gather for ‘church’ tomorrow, remember that you are standing side by side with all the other clumps of wood that our Great Artist is working on. We are all works in progress. We are all being honed and sanded and polished. As we stand together we are not meant to be looking at each other but at our Creator/Artist, singing His praises and glorying in His love. You can start today by praising God for your fellow works of art.

 

Prayer: -

à Uphold our QLD State Moderator, Rev Graeme Mackay as he travels around the churches in Qld.  Bless his wife, Kerrie, as she supports Graeme in this ministerial role.