Sometimes, You Are The Chisel

I’ve just had an atomic “ah-ha” moment recently that has completely altered how I view myself and approach the world around me. This isn’t an article that has been planned out. I am free-writing so please bear with me.

I have been slowly growing in my relationship with God, and the bulk of that growth has come in the wake of letting go my desires, and expectations for the future. I have had to become willing to let God do His work in me, and trust His plan was perfect even if my plan was thrown out completely. I had to let go of wanting to be comfortable, needing to understand every detail, and know where His every direction was leading me. Instead of avoiding the fire, I had to be willing to walk through it even if every fiber of my flesh screamed in terrified protest. I had to seek Him with a whole heart and surrender everything into the hands of the Father, and just trust.

Now, this transformation of the heart, the replacing of our stony heart of sin and rebellion, filled with fear and pride, is a God thing. We can n0t do this transformation in our own power and the only part we play is being repentant, submitting our will, and surrendering ourselves to His mercy. This shaping of the heart is the domain of God alone, and we simply make sure we are malleable. I have always been under the impression, that God was responsible for correcting everything that is amiss in my character, and in my behavior. That there wasn’t any work to be done by me because these were inherent flaws in my spirit, personality, or chemistry, or physiology, and therefore beyond me to address.

I think this idea stems from a misconception of different ideology and theology, that kind of mix together into this murky muddy water of reasoning. For instance, the work of salvation is complete by God’s hand alone. There is nothing we add to it, we can’t earn it, it is a gift we either accept or reject. However, we don’t simply rest in our salvation, it is something we walk out and work out with fear and trembling. It’s a race of endurance that we run. There is effort, sacrifice, and participation. This can be confusing especially after hearing so many sermons on “resting in the finished work of the cross,” which seems to say that all of its transformative process is something God does and we only receive. However, there is this partnership with God in our development. We’re not equal partners by any means, but we are meant to work hand in hand with God, in building His kingdom, and part of that includes us, His embassies.

Have you ever heard of the quote from Michelangelo, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material?” I feel like this will help illustrate my next point quite well, but with a small shift in perspective. We seem to view God as the Michelangelo. a mere sculptor, chiseling at a stone block until we appear, but it goes so much deeper than that. As the Creator and Author of our salvation, He has transformed our heart, formed it with great care in every detail while still within a marble block and there it remains, waiting to be revealed. While He is the sculpting hand, whittling away the extraneous material through the process of adversity, revealing flaws, and challenging perceptions, we are not only the block but also the tools in His box of sculpting utensils that He uses to shape us.

Let me explain, God has placed in us all, talents, abilities. and characteristics like intelligence, resilience, and ingenuity. These are the talents in the parable in Matthew, distributed to each according to his capability. We are stewards of these, and accountable for how they are invested. These are meant to be leveraged and cultivated, used to improve ourselves. and build up the kingdom. In the same way, God doesn’t smooth out our every flaw for us, He has equipped us to take care of many of these on our own. God is the hand, the artistic eye, and even the creator of the shape hidden within, but often we are the chisel, the sponge, the sandpaper that does the work under His expert hand.

You see, I have prayed and cried many nights that God would take this awkwardness, this social ineptitude away from me. “Heal me O Lord! What is wrong with me? Why can I not change?” Little did I understand that the spiritual work had already been done and the reason I hadn’t seen any change was because I hadn’t used my abilities, the ones I had been given, to develop the skills I needed to be different. I had been blaming God, and buried my talent. I hadn’t invested it, I wasn’t being a good steward of my gifts. When I realized, the power to overcome this gap in my skills was already mine to wield, it was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my drowsy self. Clarity exploded and I awakened to see what it means to rely on God and steward what I’ve been given. Both are necessary to run this race well.

This is the “eureka” moment of realization that I had. Once God revealed the lie behind my fears related to social interactions, once He had addressed the spiritual root of the problem, He placed the development of the practical skills of communication and interaction, in my hands. He said, “I have done what only I can do, and now it’s up to you to do what I have empowered you to do. I have transformed your heart, and I have dealt with the spiritual illness, but it’s up to you to eat well, exercise, and bolster your immunity. I have done the supernatural. It‘s time for you to use the gifts I gave you in the natural. Let’s see what you will do with them.“

So you see, you have a role to play in your growth and it’s not a passive one. I wanted to share this with you in case you were like me blindly waiting on God to move, when He already had. I encourage to be real with yourself, evaluate and pray about whether or not you’re waiting on Him or He is waiting on you. Yes, you are a block of marble in the hands of the Great Sculptor, but remember, sometimes you are the chisel.