The Finishing Work of the Master

Hebrews 12:5

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Lord begins His work in us.  He promises that He will complete every good work in us.  He also promises that He will discipline us as needed to get us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Him.  He will leave no blemish untouched.

As the Lord works on us, we can think of ourselves as a piece of old furniture that needs refinishing.  Our old stain is no longer acceptable at the place where we will be displayed.  We need a new refined finish.  Our new finish cannot be applied until all of the old stain is removed.  The first part of our refinishing will be relatively easy as our old stain is stripped away.  This first step, however, will reveal the depth of the old stain.  This then leads to the tough part of the process.  To get rid of the stubborn stain will require sanding, scraping, chipping and maybe even gouging.  This tedious process will be repeated over and over until all the old stain is completely gone.  Only when all the stain has been removed completely will our final finish be applied.

God has various ways of completing His finishing work in our lives.  Sometimes it is by the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit, sometimes it is by our reading of His Word and sometimes it is by the spoken words of His ministers.  Often times He uses affliction and trials to bring us to acknowledge and confess our iniquities, to recognize our shortcomings in fulfilling our duties or to convince us of our folly in following our own nature.  All of these things are done through His perfect love and forgiveness.

Let us submit to the work of the Master.  After all, He is preparing us for a place in His house.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing us to join You for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus for His precious blood that He shed so that we may be washed clean of every stain of sin in our lives.  We bow before You, Father, in full surrender to Your good work in us.  We pray that You take us into Your hands and prepare us to stand before You in the image of Your Son.  We rejoice in knowing that we will be in service to You in Your house forever.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.