The Artisan
From: 1870 cdd “The Artisan” 1/2/08
Cyber-Daily-Devotion by Pastor Bill
Wednesday January 2, 2008 Volume 9 Number 002
Scripture: Romans 12:5-6
“So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed
and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and
be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves
with each other, or trying to be something we aren't” MSG
During World War II Allied bombers wreaked havoc over Europe to help bring
an end to the war. In a small village near an industrial plant, one of the
bombs fell off-course and destroyed the village cathedral.
After the war, the people of the village gathered any items that they had
of any value and gave them to the pastor to sell, in order to buy materials
to rebuild their place of worship. A year passed and the pastor hired an architect
to draw up the plans for the new building. After the drawings were completed
and the townspeople had given to the pastor everything but the bare necessities
that they needed to live on, a contractor was hired to rebuild the cathedral.
The contractor was given a strict time frame in which to complete the building.
He had no trouble finding brick masons, stonecutters, carpenters and other
craftsmen to work on the project. He needed three stained glass artisans to
complete the project on time, but could only find two in postwar Europe. One
day a disheveled-looking man came to the contractor and said he was a stained
glass artisan and had heard the contractor needed a third worker. The contractor
scoffed at the man with tattered clothes, unkempt hair and a rough face covered
with stubble of a beard:
“You? You are a stained glass artisan?” "Yes," replied
the man with a smile. "Not only that, I will work for three meals a day
and a place to sleep at night. When my window is finished and if you and the
townspeople approve of it, then pay me the same rate of pay that you are paying
the other two artisans." The contractor felt like he could not lose and
agreed to the man’s requests.
As the man was leaving, he asked for one more item. “Could you put a
curtain around the window where I will be working? I do not like people watching
me work.” “Sure, okay,” replied the contractor. He asked the
man’s name, but he said his name was not important.
Months went by and the building rose from the ashes. Every morning the
man would speak to the other two stained glass men and then quietly go behind
his curtain to work. As the contractor’s deadline neared, he grew more
and more nervous about what the window would look like or if it would even
be finished on time. Finally the day came for the townspeople to inspect their
new cathedral. The contractor showed off the fine woodwork, precision cut
stones and glistening marble. He then moved over to the first two stained
glass windows. The beauty of their new church home astounded the people.
Part 2: Scripture: 1 John 3:2
“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet
shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we
will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” NLT
A quiet hush fell over the building as they approached the curtain covering
the third window. All they heard was the tapping of a hammer. The contractor
barked out, “Are you finished yet?” The man tapped his hammer one
last time and said, “Sure, take the curtain down!”
There before the people was the most magnificent, most wonderful, most elegant
and most beautiful stained glass window anyone had ever seen. Tears welled
up in their eyes as they admired the craftsmanship and the pure beauty of
the window.
The contractor was relieved to see the astonishing work. He asked the man
for his name again. Yet once more, the man said his name was not important.
Then the contractor asked him if he could at least tell them were he got the
glass to make the window. It was far superior to all the glass in the other
two windows. "Sure," replied the man.
"Every morning as I talked to the other two workers I would reach down
into their trash barrels and take out the broken, unwanted pieces of glass.
I used those discarded pieces to make my window."
This is just a story, but it is a story that has a lot of meaning to me. It
is my story, for you see I was one of those pieces of broken and discarded
glass. It is a story that tells how God, working through others, took what
I had become after my accident and made me whole again. It does not matter
how shattered, broken or discarded I felt, nor does it matter what sins I
had committed. He put me back together in a far different and superior manner
than anyone could have imagined.
So who are you in the story? Are you feeling like a discarded piece of glass
that will never amount to anything? Perhaps you are the skeptical contractor,
not believing that something can be made of what seems to be nothing? Maybe
you are one of the townspeople, giving all you can to help rebuild other people’s
lives. Perhaps you are like the other two stained glass artisans. Your life
is acceptable, but maybe you have become complacent. You stopped striving
to be the very best. Maybe you are the almost-completed window and God is
tapping the final pieces into place, crafting you even more into the image
of the greatest Masterpiece ever, Jesus.
I don't know who you are, but I do know that if you will let Him, God will
not stop working on you --- He will never give up on you until you become
all that He intends for you to become.
So set extra time to pray
Compose that song
Write that book
Go on that mission trip
Step out for Jesus and watch what HE does.
Prayer: Father thank you for picking me up from the discarded of life and
setting my course. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
Donations for South Africa
Christian-Cyber-Ministries, 1870 2nd Ave. SE #130-1, Cambridge, MN 55008
South Africa donation thermometer at www.hallelujah3.org
Great Commission Worship & Arts Center