MEMORIZE: And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Judges 6:12
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Amos 4-6, Proverbs 30
One day, a sculptor, whilst taking a stroll in the forest, found a log of wood. The wood was dry and very heavy. From his observation, the wood had been there for a while. “An abandoned log of wood,” he thought to himself. As he stood observing the wood, he saw some potential in the wood. “A beautiful lion could be carved out of this abandoned wood!” he said joyfully. He went home, got his chisel, hammer, file, and other sculpturing tools and returned to carve out the beautiful piece he had seen. Whilst working on the wood to bring out the beautiful piece, which is a lion, he strikes a blow and suddenly a large chunk of the wood falls away. Frustrated and disappointed, he decided to abandon the project and return home. Before leaving, he took one last glance at what was left and he saw another potential in it. A beautiful eagle, although small, could be carved out of what is left, so he started work again. He strikes another blow and half of the wood falls off. “There is nothing left in this wood,” he thought to himself. Determined to create something out of the tiny wood left, he created a rat out of what was left.
In my story, the ‘sculptor’ is the almighty God. He is the master sculptor. You see when a sculptor wants to carve out something; he looks at a piece of wood and begins to see what nobody else can see in it. Each time God looks at a man or a woman, regardless of his or her current condition, He sees something beautiful that could come out of the individual by the time He is done. He looked at Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho, and He saw a good housewife in her. He worked on her and she became the great grandmother of Kind David (Matthew 1:5). He looked at Gideon, a man who had lost confidence in himself, and saw a mighty man of valour. Judges 6:12 says, “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” He worked on him and Gideon became a leader. We, you and i, are the abandoned log of wood the Sculptor found. The Lord has begun work on us to bring out a beautiful piece – the best we can be in Him. The blows, in the form of pressures, challenges, etc, are ‘coming’ to deal with things that are hindering us from realizing our potential in Christ. The blows are not always pleasant but they are necessary to help us realize our potential. As God is working on you, don’t fall part. Don’t allow the challenges and pressure push you to sin. Someone asked, “Why can’t God restore all that an individual has lost through sexual sins?” If God restores all that is lost through sexual sins including one’s dignity, and honour, how would others learn? Besides, there are things God don’t give, you have to earn them. God will not give you people’s trust or respect. You have to earn them. God may restore the spiritual gifts you have lost but your dignity, people’s trust in you, the respect they have for you, especially as a minister in the vineyard of God, is gone forever. No matter how much God uses you after that, people will always refer to the past and that kills one's morale. Therefore, do everything not to fall. The wood, which a large chunk of it fell off as a result of challenges in the form of blows, represents backsliders or believers who slide back into the world as a result of life challenges. If they return to Christ, God will still continue to work on them but they may never become God's best .Nevertheless, they will still become something. I will rather become God's best than become something ordinary. This is why you must not joke with your salvation. To backslide once is enough to set a man back in his spiritual walk.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: A man does not know what he has until he has lost it. Life outside Christ is full of heartache
PRAYER POINT: Father, please keep me till the end.
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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.
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