Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Craft (as in handcraft) (02/08/07)
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TITLE: The Master Craftsman | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dailene Ashton
02/11/07 -
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Recently I read through some cards I had received from folk I hardly knew following my mother’s sudden and sad passing. From what had been written in some of these, I realized that my life had touched their lives in passing and had apparently left a mark – and I give God all the glory!
This made me think of the touch of the Master Craftsman on our lives.
My thoughts turned to a wonderful song written by Bill Gaither(*) which I grew to love: “He touched me”. I quote a few words from it:
“Shackled by a heavy burden, ‘Neath a load of sin and shame;
Then the hand of Jesus touched me,
And now I am no longer the same”
When Jesus touches our lives, we can no longer be the same. “… those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun” (2 Cor.5:17 New Living Translation). Some versions put it this way: we have become a new creation! We’re made new by the Master Craftsman! Set free from within.
Interestingly, the Lord never forces Himself on us – He invites us to follow Him. He responds to our call. He reaches out to us. Another precious chorus says: “Reach out to Jesus, He’s reaching out to you”. The sick, the lame, the lepers, the blind came to Jesus, He turned no one away. The Master Craftsman touched their lives in a unique way and re-crafted them.
As we reach out to the Craftsman, He reaches out to us. This reminds me of the woman described in Matthew 9:21-22. “If I can just touch the hem of His robe (the hem of His garment), I will be healed”. Jesus, the Master Craftsman saw her faith and healed her. The joy that must have filled her heart … “He touched me and made me whole"(*).
If we are willing to be made new, to be moulded into His image, the Master Craftsman is willing and longing to make us His new creation. He makes us spiritually and oft’-times physically new. When the hand of the Potter or Master Craftsman touches us, we will never be the same again.
Jeremiah illustrates God’s intentions with and for us so beautifully when he describes how he was sent by the Lord to the potter’s house. The potter was making something at his wheel. As Jeremiah watched, he noticed that the first jar the potter made didn’t turn out as he had hoped. The potter squashed the jar back into a lump of clay and started making it over again until he was fully satisfied with the finished product.
The Lord then shows Jeremiah (and us) that He is able to crush us and destroy us. However, if we are willing to repent and turn to Him, He longs to make us new, a vessel fit for the Master’s use. He makes all things new.
You and I can touch the lives of others for a time, but Jesus in us and through us can touch lives eternally. Has He touched and crafted your life?
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