Continuous Transformation

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  Colossians 1:28

I was reading an online devotional today that referenced a wood worker carving and shaping a piece of wood.  The wood worker cuts away the parts that are not the finished product.  Eventually, after many days (depending on the size of the original piece of wood), he steps back to see the finished piece--what he had envisioned from the start.

Oftentimes we think of our spiritual development as something that just happens over night.  We proclaim Christ one day, and are immediately transformed.  This would be awesome, but is not the case at all.  Many of us come into relationship with Christ like a bulky stump comes to the wood worker.  We see something useless, He sees, behind the junk, something beautiful--an original design that He's had in mind from the beginning.

Just like the stump may have bark, knots, or gaps that need to be carved out--we too have stuff.  It takes time, but it also takes vulnerability.  We must be willing to allow Christ to cut away, carve out, the stuff that doesn't belong in what He sees.  If we proclaim Him, we should allow Him to work on us.  Full maturity comes from Him shaping us--over time.

What bark or knots need to be carved out of your life?  How are you getting in the way of the chisel? Are you letting Him, the master wood worker, shape you into His design--the very best you there could possibly be?