The Great Chiseler

Webster defines chiseler “as one who works with chisels to shape or cut stone, wood, or metal.  As a slang term it means one who cheats others, who employs shrewd, unfair practices.”

Bernie Madoff was the mastermind of what is considered the largest Ponzi scheme in history.  It is estimated that his financial scam defrauded thousands of investors out of roughly $64.8 billion before his scheme collapsed.  Certainly, Madoff would qualify for the slang meaning of the word chiseler.

The honorable meaning of the term describes one who is skilled in the use of chisels to sculpt and carve from a block of stone or wood, creating an artistic outcome envisioned by the sculpting artisan. Michelangelo’s David comes to mind.  Sculpted from marble between 1501 and 1504, and having a height of 17 feet, it is considered a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture. As its name reveals, a ‘masterpiece’ is a piece of work crafted by a master artisan.

GOD THE GREAT CHISELER

Is God a chiseler by the slang definition? One who lures us to give Him our lives [and our resources] but who is only conducting a scam to ultimately defraud us, leaving us bitterly disappointed in Him and concluding that the Christian ‘religion’ along with those who promote it, is just a bunch of nonsense? There are certainly some who think so.  But what if the image He envisions for us, is different from our own? What if His goal is to sculpt a ‘masterpiece’ of each of our individual lives? If sculpting of each of us is required to produce the outcome He desires, then some parts of our character very likely must be ‘trimmed’ off.  Ouch! Whoa! A block of stone or wood feels nothing from the chiseling process, but for us, the process can be incredibly painful.

What does it mean to become a ‘masterpiece’ of God? In one sense, we were created by God as an immediate masterpiece, in that, no other earthly creature was possessed of the qualities of humankind.  We were created with not only the highest intellectual capacity of all his earthly creatures but also with the potential to know our creator.  But as we are so much aware, if we are honest with ourselves, we are damaged, and bent in the wrong direction, in our inner nature, our character, which often motivates us to make selfish, foolish, even evil decisions.  Does God then ‘accept’ us as we are? Or does He accept us for who we are, His beloved creatures and His adopted children, at least for those who seek to become His child by faith in His Son, Jesus, the Christ. [Eph 1:5, John 3:16] He accepts those as they are who come to Him seeking to experience and participate in His grace-given eternal life. However, He does not leave us as we are.  Instead, He intends to sculpt us into a restored image of Himself, as to His character. He is more ‘successful’ with those who cooperate with his ‘chiseling’ efforts.[Hebrews 12:10].  He is not so interested in our “living the pleasant life of the immature, or the good life of the untested.” [Larry Crab-Shattered Dreams 2001].

This ‘chiseling’ process is lifelong, quite often painful, even sometimes incredibly so.  But when we come to recognize His ‘masterpiece’ goal for each of us and choose to cooperate with His objective for us, we can experience more peace knowing He is using difficulties in our lives as chisels.  James tells his readers: “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.  But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”[James 1:2-4] Paul tells the Ephesians that one day, we will be displayed in heaven as examples of His transforming grace: “He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:6-8] Do you somehow view God as a celestial Madoff-a swindler, schemer, fraud? Or is He a type of Michelangelo, one intent on graciously chiseling our character into an incredibly stunning masterpiece that He will display for eternity? Are we cooperating with His efforts? Or are we grumbling, resentful with each painful strike of the chisel of the Master Artisan?

Michelangelo’s David-currently in Florence Italy

CJS