Craig Smith Psalm 25:4
Search with holy eyes
This vessel in Your hands
Sift and purify
By the standards You demand
Sculptor of my heart
Cast and forge my mind
With a quest for purity
And as the poet weaves his line
Compose You melody
Chorus
Please make of me
Your Kingdom's art
May You be pleased
Sculptor of my heart
You have fashioned perfectly
Your image in the Son
Shape and pattern within me
To be the paragon
Sculptor of my heart
Hew away those places
Which cause blemish to the whole
As the only skillful Master
Engrave Your name upon my soul
Chorus
You create from a heart of stone
A vessel of honor that You call
Your own, Your own
Chorus
The desire of the Father is that we be conformed to the image of His Son.
May we have the boldness and wisdom to come before the Lord and prayfullyrequest He mold uss into that which is pleasing and productive to His
Kingdom, at whatever the cost to us personally.
There are at least two qualities found in a master-craftsman in relation tohis work. One is the constant striving for perfection in his art. Patientlyexerting all his abilities to create a beautiful, expressive, and seeminglyflawless place. Secondly, being able to apply his entire imagination tovisualizing the completed art form, even prior to picking up his firstsculpting tool.
After mentally fixing what the completed form will look like, he then beginsto hammer and chisel away those unsightly chunks and pieces which woulddistort the final image. He will labor diligently until that which was onceonly a mental image cast upon formless material, has been transformed intoa timeless work of art.
Through the laborious and skillful process of the artist, material whichonce had little worth is converted into an object of great value.
In similar manner, we come to Christ as objects of little value, andcertainly no value when considered in relation to the Kingdom of God. As weare convicted of our sin, ask forgiveness and repent of our sin, He becomesour Saviour and His Lordship then moves into every aspect of our life. Aswe stand before Him, in His grace, as mere babes in Christ, He not only seesour present immature state, but He also supernaturally sees the finishedproducts.
Because of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, we have moved from aposition of worthlessness to God, to a secured position of great potentialand eternal value to God. He takes "...from a heart of stone," and throughthe work of the Holy Spirit makes "a vessel of honor."
The gift of salvation is made available to each of us only to the extentthat we each are willing to respond in obedience to His invitation. Uponaccepting His terms to that free gift, we then become a child of the King.
This is the foundation we are established on, and can reason from God's
Word, that we should continue to build on. It is the process of tearing downthe fleshly man, and building up the spiritual man "...put on the new self(man) who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the
One who created him." (
Col. 3:10) The Lord did not intend for us to remain as"babes," in fact we are instructed to "long for the pure milk of the Word,that by it (we) may grow in respect to salvation." (I Peter 2:2) "...grow(increase) in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."(II Peter 3:18) It should be our desire, goal, and prayer that the Fatherwould remove, hammer and chisel, away any material which does not conformto the image of His Son.
He reveals those thing in our live which are unpleasing in His sight, and werespond in obedience so they do not hinder the final result.
We submit to Him because He has loved us enough to give us life through His
Son. We were created to bring glory to God, to be pleasing in His sight.
That is our destiny. We are the clay in the potter's hand. We are materialbeing constructed into living objects which are pleasing and bringsatisfaction to the Father. God is not just wise, He is the source of true"
Wisdom." As vessels, then, let us not worry but have complete trust in Himand His wisdom that He will chip away only those unnecessary and unsightlypieces.
As we are in submission and obedience to Him, the end result will be a livingwork of art, worthy of the King's chambers.--
Craig Smith
We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer Craig Smith
We praise Thee, O God our Redeemer, Creator
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring
We lay it before Thee
We kneel and adore Thee
We bless Thy Holy Name, glad praises we sing
|