Get Out Your Hammer and Chisel

Have you heard the story a man who had a huge boulder in his front yard? He didn’t know how to get rid of the boulder, so he decided to take advantage of it and turn it into a work of art.

The man went to work on the boulder with hammer and chisel, and chipped away at it until it became a beautiful stone elephant. When a neighbor asked how he had carved such a marvelous likeness of an elephant, the man answered, "I just chipped away everything that didn't look like an elephant!"

The Bible says we are made in God’s image and in His likeness, and this little story makes me wonder: what things do we have in our lives that don’t look like Jesus? What things do we need to chip away, so that He shines through our lives?

Colossians has some guidelines for living, and for helping us look more like Jesus Christ: “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, compassionate hearts - -kindness - - humility - - meekness - - patience - - bearing with one another - - forgiving each other.

And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony . . . be thankful, let the Word of Christ dwell in you. And whatever you do . . . give thanks to God the Father.”

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to get out the hammer and a chisel, like the man in the story, and chip away everything in our lives that does not look like Jesus!

And then I ask you to show compassion and kindness, and give thanks to God the Father, by reaching out to needy families and children here in the inner city.

Blessings,

Willie L. Jordan

(Mrs. Fred Jordan)