Chiselling

The Carpenter stared at the seemingly useless block of wood and decided to make a wooden man. He took up His chisel and began His work. He chiselled here and there, getting rid of what hindered His goal. After being hard at work for hours and hours, the Carpenter stepped back and stared at His masterpiece with pride. What had once been a useless chunk of wood was now perfect.

Character building takes time and lots of pain. Sometimes we wonder why we have experience certain things that hurt. We ask the question, “If God loves me, why do I have to suffer?” But I’ve learnt a very valuable lesson: it is in the darkest hours of our lives that we grow and learn the most, if we choose to continue to trust in God. Sometimes those times of pain are just the times God is chiselling away what shouldn’t be there, forming a masterpiece that will one day, in eternity, be perfect. He’s chipping away pride, vanity, bad habits and other things that get in the way of our effectiveness in the Kingdom of God. It’s because God loves us that our lives are not all sunshine.

God has been chiselling at my character a lot these last two years. It hasn’t been easy; on the contrary, it’s been painful. But I’ve matured and learnt a lot in the last two years. I still don’t understand why I have had to go through a lot of the things I’ve gone through. But I do know that God is equipping me for something that requires certain lessons. Don’t misunderstand me; God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us, but He brings good out of the bad. He uses difficult situations to teach us and to mold us into someone who looks more like Him. Our characters need to be tested and chiselled before we can truly become mighty men and women of God. It’s a difficult, painful process. But in the end, it will be worth it.