From the rough to the useable! (Part 1)
To make a wooden spoon one must start with a log. Find a section of that log that would be suitable for the size and type of spoon you desire and then cut that section to length. From there you take an axe or froe and begin to split the log into useable blanks. Some of the blanks contain the pith and you will need to consider how much of it will need to be removed for you particular project. Then you refine the general blank down further into a general shape of the spoon you are making. After this some wood carvers take the time to pencil out a rough diagram of the spoon and begin to axe away at the excess wood. We will pause there for now and pick up the rest of the steps in the next blog or video.
This all started with a log. A selected piece of a tree that doesn’t, at first, appear to be a spoon, spreading knife, or anything else that you might be carving. It is a round rough piece of timber that will need intentional shaping. There will be a lot of waste, otherwise known as fire starter, all around you as you chop away at the log.
Our lives are much like this process as well. We start off as crude men who undergo a refining process of working us out of us, by the mighty hands of God. God in his mercy and grace carefully and purposely removes parts of our pride and selfishness in order to refine us into men who have integrity and humility. Similar to how there is a lot waste in spoon carving, we will also witness some waste in our lives as well. This waste shows up on the ground around us in the form of regret and shame. I have found that many men can easily get stuck in this place. They feel stuck in the frustration and confusion of what feels like a stagnant, meaningless moment of refining. Our eyes tend move to the waste around us and we cease to look at the gracious and merciful God who is faithfully helping us to be transformed into something useful for His will.
John 15:1-4 (ESV)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
In this teaching Jesus is revealing that the Father faithfully and purposely prunes us in order that through us, Christ might produce His fruit. I would encourage you to read all of John 15 right now and then come back to the blog post. In it you will find God’s love towards us, especially in the pruning. Cutting away may appear to us as cruel, confusing, or contradictory. In that moment as we see the Father cutting away branches that are producing pretty good fruit we think to ourselves, “Hold on, I find my confidence in that ability or outcome.” But He sees something better. Just as a carver sees the finished product of a refined useable utensil in a log chopped down to a blank and then painstakingly shaped. God sees what He can make you to be!
What is our life application from part 1 of this first post? I think that it is actually quite simple, and yet rather difficult at the same time. God desires humble men who are willing to submit to His will and become willing vessels for His glory and praise. Don’t lose heart when God is chopping away at your life. He is simply cutting away the parts of you that are hindering your true purpose in life, to reflect His glory.
This week consider taking some time and asking God to reveal what it is that He desires to cut away. Read John 15 every day this week. Notice the ideas and concepts of grafting, pruning, and fruit. Notice the intentional work of the Father with the branches.
