Have you ever admired quality workmanship? Maybe a striking bridge or building? Perhaps a sculpture or painting? I enjoy looking at well built furniture, especially wood furniture. When I was a teenager, I would visit a neighbor who built cabinets. Bill was a magician in my eyes. He could take a few measurements in anyone’s house, go into his shop and build cabinets that fit perfectly into a kitchen that he had only seen once. The doors would swing with ease. The drawers seemed to glide on air as they were opened and closed. The joints fit together as if the wood had grown that way.
Many years later, I still admire quality woodworking. While my family lived in Wisconsin we bought some Amish built furniture. The furniture builders there are amazing. They go into their wood shops that look like something out of the nineteenth century. Using hand tools and wood, no nails mind you, they produced stunning beds and dressers, tables and nightstands, benches and chairs. The oak grain seems to pop out through the stains and finish. Corners and seams are tightly fitted together so there are no gaps. I have been trying my hand at woodworking and I’ve learned to admire the skilled artisans even more. It isn’t easy to square corners and build drawers that glide as if they were floating on air. However, I also learned there are tricks to the trade. Those tight seams may be well fitted, but the gaps may have been filled with wood filler. Those rough edges may have been covered with a wood veneer. There are all kinds of guides and jigs to help make that perfect cut or drill that exact hole.
Jesus Christ learned carpentry from his earthly dad, Joseph. No doubt He learned to saw wood and join it together to build. He continues to do that in our lives. He wants to cut out the sinful nature to which we were enslaved and join us together with Him in the heavenly place that He has prepared for us. In Him there are no gaps, no filler. He makes all things new, perfectly joined together. He transforms our lives. Through His grace and mercy, He seals us. As a bride is sealed for her husband, we are sealed for His joy and His glory.
Last weekend, my wife and I visited friends in Cape Cod. Don and I worked together in the Army before he retired and moved back to his home state. Sunday, their church held a baptismal service. Nine people of all ages dedicated their lives to Jesus through baptism. We enjoyed hearing the young men and women confess their faith in Jesus as Lord. They were giddy with excitement. They were eager to show their commitment to all who were present. Then one man, in his fifties, got up to confess his faith. His story displayed the awesome saving grace of GOD. The gentleman began by telling how when he was 12 years old, his alcoholic father would drive to taverns and leave him is the car as the man would go in for hours to drink. Later, the boy followed his father’s example and by eighteen, he too was an alcoholic. He married and had children. One day while driving home in a drunken stupor, he hit and killed a young mother. His life fell apart. His wife divorced him; he lost his home, his family, his job. He will always live with the results of his action. However, he began to study GOD’s Word. He was convicted of GOD’s grace and the redemption of Jesus. He accepted that mercy and was baptized that day with the others. Before you become skeptical (we live in a very skeptical society) let me tell you that many were surprised by this man’s confession. He is now married and one of the prominent business men in the area. He was not seeking man’s hand out, but GOD’s outstretched hand of loving mercy.
That day nine people were baptized. they ranged in age from 8 to 58. Their sins probably varied as widely as their ages, but that is irrelevant in GOD’s view. He loves us all, regardless of the wretchedness of our lives. He wants to care for us and brings us to Him.
In Him,
