It takes a mountain of skill, experience, and work
for a carpenter to take a log and make it into a flawless work of art. One careless, ill-placed strike of the hammer
or chisel can make kindling for a fire, rather than a priceless piece of furniture,
to be handed down from one generation to the next. Wood, by its nature, carries with it the
internal characteristics of all it has faced since the day the tender shoot broke
the surface of the earth…storms, dry times, wind, cold, and every other force
of every day. There are flaws cradled in
the core of every tree’s story.
Apostle Jude cautions each believer to take part
in caring for each other, rescuing our brothers and sisters from the self-destructive
nature we all possess. At the same time
we are to be careful we don’t cross the line of judging, doing more damage to
our own walk of faith. It’s a fine line
between helping and harming.
I recall a time more than thirty years ago when
the pressure of a challenging time as pastor of a dying church had stripped-away
my outer bark to bare, cracked wood. Internal
power struggles were destroying what was left of that church. I began to realize I was losing hope. I spent more hours weeping in my study than
preparing for Sunday worship. My heart
had more cracks than wood left in the desert sun for forty years.
A couple of men who were prayer warriors, and far
above my pay-grade in spiritual warfare, recognized my empty fuel tank, and
just happened to show up at the church one day around lunch time. They would not take “no” for an answer,
loaded the weary preacher in the back seat of the car, and carted me off for a
two-hour lunch and time of prayer. It
didn’t solve the problems of that church (which took another two decades to
finally close the front doors), but it lifted this man from the abyss!
Those two could have been on the golf course, or
tending to some need of their own; they chose to push the delirium of my
personal faith crisis to a front row seat.
They helped me face the reality of a quagmire I’d allowed to overshadow and
swallow my faith. On that sunny Florida
afternoon I received no epiphany of knowledge – and, truth be told, I didn’t
need any more facts, or opinions about strategy, or just head knowledge – I got
much better than any lesson. What still stuns
me from that afternoon has nothing to do with what I ate for lunch. Or what was prayed. Or who drove, or which car it was. The memory I carry deep within is how much I
was being loved.
For You Today
That whole group of believers you gather with at
church on Sunday – God has prepared them for you, and you for them…to be
carpenter’s glue to all your woody cracks and flaws. He’s building a masterpiece of an heirloom out
of your life. You are loved by Him,
through them. You go cooperate with Him
in that!
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these:
Living in a War Zone and Chained Like Angels
Images: Title Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal
property of the author, or in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
