YOUR INMOST BEING
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” ~ Michelangelo
KEY SCRIPTURE: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ~ Psalm 139:13 (NIV)
When you were created, you were perfect. Who you are – your inmost being – is perfect. You were designed by Divinity.
And then you came into this fallen world…
The hostile ruler of this world hates God and anything God makes, so he does everything in his power to destroy it. And so, from the moment we’re born, this world starts throwing junk (superfluous material) onto us… like clay just being thrown at the pot on the artist’s wheel, adding more and more and more until we’re this lumpy bumpy mass of hardened lies.
Lies about who we truly are.
Lies that say we’re too fat or too skinny or too tall or too short or too young or too old or too weak or too blah blah blah… fill in the blank. They’re all lies that want us to believe we’re not loved. That we CAN’T be loved. Because we’re not lovable.
Lies, lies, LIES!!!
But, there’s good news.
The truth is in there…
Who you TRULY are, is in there.
You may not have ever known who you TRULY are.
But, God knows.
And it’s His plan to show you.
However… just like Michelangelo chiseling away at the sculpture to reveal the glorious sculpture that is hidden inside, so God must do the same to us.
And so, He allows us to be in situations that grate on us…
Situations that rub us the wrong way.
Situations that make us feel like we’re in a rock grinder… spinning around and around and around, tumbling over and over and over in sloppy slimy sandy gritty muck and mire.
I know.
I’ve been there.
And while I NEVER would have chosen it, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy… I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.
Because it chiseled away those rough edges of my personality.
It softened my sharp tongue.
It smoothed gritty nature.
It revealed the true me that was under all that stuff that WASN’T me.
It revealed the true me that is loved by God.
I know He’s not finished with me yet… just like He’s not finished with you yet, either.
He doesn’t make junk. You were wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
He made you because He loves you. And, all the lies and other garbage that gets thrown at you and on you from this world can never change that… can never change who you TRULY are.
He sees the beautiful you beneath all the lies.
And He wants YOU to see that beautiful person, too.
Abba, please give us eyes to see ourselves as you see us. Please remove the scales from our eyes so we can see clearly. Help us to be the people you created us to be, and to radiate Your Spirit more and more each day, as you whittle and chip and grind and chisel away the lies from our lives. And please, give us the strength and perseverance to endure it, because we need it!
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.