In His Image

   Over the years I’ve done a fair amount of wood-working.  I’ve made rocking horses, quilt racks and shelves as well as small craft type items.  One of the biggest projects I took on was the refinishing of a drop-leaf dining table with six rose-back chairs.  It had belonged to my wife’s mother and had passed down to us.

   When I first began I wondered if it was worth the effort.  It was pretty well scratched up and showing the wear of many years of use.  Children and grandchildren had taken their toll on the finish and had left some quite deep scars along the way.

   As I began to remove the several layers of varnish that had been applied over the years a marvelous thing occurred.  As the worn, discolored finish came off, the solid mahogany wood of the table began to show through.  The more I worked the more beautiful the wood appeared.  What I found under the years of wear and tear was a table and chairs of true beauty.  Solid mahogany that sprang to life as if it had never seen the use all those years.

   What began as a questionable project became one of love.  As I continued to remove the last of the old finish the beauty and depth of the grain in the wood became apparent.  Completing the job with a good finish and final buffing with very fine steel wool I finally brought the beauty of the wood back to life.

   We are very much like that dining set.  Created in the image of God, we have been marred and deformed by sinfulness and the hardness of our hearts.  Like the mahogany of that table, we have seen our original beauty covered over with misuse and abuse.  The wear and tear on our souls is self-inflicted through our own pride, vanity and refusal to follow God’s will in our life.

   God stands ready with the sandpaper and steel wool to remove the years of wear and tear we have experienced.  He will lovingly refinish our souls, removing the sins and failures, replacing them with His love and mercy.

   The only condition is that we must agree to God’s refurbishing of our soul.  The table I worked on had no choice but to allow me to do what was needed to make it what it was intended to be.  We, however, must give God our permission to do the same to us.  How ironic that we alone can stand in God’s way of remaking our damaged soul and bringing us to eternal life.

   “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1: 26)