Food for Thought

              As we travel around the country, we see many fine examples of chainsaw art. The finished products are really quite amazing. I’m sure that partway through the process the appearance was quite different. One thing is sure though, the artist had to have the finished picture in mind as he or she pared away the chips. Deciding to quit part way through the process would have resulted in something quite unattractive and certainly not the work of art the artist had intended.

              In II Corinthians chapter three Paul is talking about the radical difference between the old covenant which came with Moses and the new covenant that came with Jesus. In verse eighteen of that chapter (NLT) he writes: “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

              I think it safe to say that all of us had a certain amount of radical change when we came to the Lord. And that change probably continued for some time. And I think it is also safe to say that none of us have reached a point where we reflect fully the glory of the Lord. This would suggest that we still should be experiencing change, that is, we should be progressively coming more and more like him as the verse suggests.

              However, the tendency is at some stage to plateau. Our enemy loves plateaus. It is easy to reach a stage where the influence of our faith in the way we live out our lives has plateaued. We have our routine church attendance habits established. We have defined how, where, and when we pray. These habits complement our busy lives and everything fits together comfortably. Focussing on becoming more like Jesus becomes a lesser priority if it is given any serious thought at all. Welcome to the world of plateaus.

              Here’s an interesting quote I came across recently. “We look to God to exhibit himself to his children, but God exhibits himself in his children.” God certainly uses us in many ways to represent him. Jesus says we are the light of the world.  As we noted above, Paul says to the church at Corinth, ‘we reflect the glory of the Lord’ and to the church at Ephesus he says ‘we are God’s masterpiece’. Serious business to be sure.

              When we allow ourselves to plateau, the changing into his glorious image stops, the partially finished masterpiece is what remains to be shown to the world around. Like the chain saw artist our artist our Lord and Saviour has a finished product for his masterpiece in mind. Shouldn’t that be a priority for each of us? To break out of our plateaus and give him time and space to complete his artwork?                                                Pastor Dave