“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3 (NIV)
After several years of political turmoil, peace returned to Florence, Italy, in 1501. The famous Italian artist, Michelangelo came home and was immediately commissioned to sculpt his most famous work: David. Michelangelo was given a block of damaged marble 19 feet tall and three years later, he unveiled the finished 17 foot statue in September 1504.
It is reported that someone asked the sculptor how he could have imagined David in the block of marble. Michelangelo supposedly said, “David was in there all the time, I simply chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”
We are much like that damaged block of marble. Yet, we are going to be like Christ! Of course, we can not imagine it. The picture of an immortal, incorruptible body has never entered into the heart of a human, nor any of the other blessings God has prepared for those who love and serve him.
Like an unfinished statue, our finished likeness is only in the mind of the Eternal Sculptor. But it doesn’t matter to the child of God because we are going to be like him! O, to be like Jesus, to be like Jesus! All that I want is to be like him!
Dear Father, thank you for the hope we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Enable us to yield ourselves to the purifying power of your Word. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be courageous today in the hands of the eternal sculptor,