I am the father of three boys. They are getting older now, and so they probably do not like for me to refer to them as “boys.” They are 20, 17, and 15 respectively. And each one of them is uniquely gifted by God. I think this is the thing about being a parent that is so amazing. As your children get older, they start becoming the individuals God has made them to be. And the fact that he is their Creator becomes obvious, as my sons possess gifts and qualities that my genes could have never produced. I brag on each of them from time to time. Today, I’ll brag on my youngest son, Jackson.
Jackson is an outdoorsman. He loves anything that has to do with being outside in God’s creation. He loves to fish, ride his dirt bike, and camp out. He also loves to use a chainsaw. Believe it or not, he taught himself how. Yet, that’s not all. He has learned how to carve amazing works of art using this chainsaw. He has crafted cutting boards and crosses. And he has received instruction from no person in how to do so. That’s how you know that a characteristic is God-given.
Sometimes, I’ll hear the roar of his chainsaw, and that’s when I know that Jackson is up to something. He is creating a masterpiece, something he already has in his mind to create. The finished product is a vision that only he knows, and he works and works and works until it is complete. What’s interesting is that as I watch him work, I have no idea what he is doing. There is no clue in my mind what the finished product will look like. I can guess, but usually my guesses are wrong. I only know when he is finished. I see and hear his constant labor, though, and this gives me the assurance that whatever he is making will come to complete fruition in due time, his time, not mine.
It’s so similar with God and us. As Jeremiah and Paul rightly observe, he is the Potter, and we are the clay. And every day, he is busy crafting us after his design. He is making us more like Jesus, for sure, but he is also wielding us into an instrument for his use, a finished product that only he knows. Sometimes, well-meaning people will confidently boast that they know what he is doing with us. And from their vantage point, they think they are correct. Yet only God knows the precise nature of his will for a person’s life. And his will is something he reveals in time to that person as they cooperate with him. Other people help for sure, but he places his desires ultimately in the person’s heart. Case in point, Billy Graham was told by the President of a Christian college he attended that he would never amount to anything in ministry, and that he was doomed to be a failure for the rest of his life. I’m glad Billy Graham listened to God instead.
All of this to say, be patient with God’s process. Both with yourself and others. He knows what he is doing. He knows what he is up to. And he is committed to the process until the end of our days in this world. What he desires from us is a willingness to be molded by him, to let him be the ultimate Potter in our lives. His grace assures us that he’ll keep working with us, as we so often become clay that is broken. Yet, his daily presence provides us with strength to always know that what he starts, he is committed to finishing. Will you allow him to mold you today?