spirit-filled life

Have you heard the story about the sculptor? He was hard at work with his hammer and his chisel. Chips of stone were flying around.

An onlooker asked, “What are you making?”

“A horse,” the sculptor replied.

“How do you know how to turn a block of stone into a horse?” asked the onlooker.

“It is actually very easy,” said the sculptor. “You just knock off anything that doesn’t look like a horse.”

I have used this story many times as I teach people about the life of Christ, and being remade into his image. I usually say, “And that is what God does in our lives. He chips off anything that doesn’t look like Jesus.”

Today, I watched this story. It’s a powerful telling of how our Father lovingly forms us into the image of his Son.

[iframe http://www.youtube.com/embed/AhfUzodLRvk 500]

There are leaves everywhere. It’s spring and the leaves are falling!

We have laurel oaks in our yard. These are similar to the live oaks. They lose their leaves in the spring. It seems that when the sap rises and new leaves are budding, these oaks give up their old leaves.

There is even a period of time where the old leaves co-exist with the new growth. But their time is limited. They are dead and dying. They will drop away.

Interesting.

And very much like the Spirit-filled life. Paul outlines this in Ephesians 4:22-24. We are to put off the old and to put on the new. It doesn’t all happen at one time. For the rest of my life, I will be putting off the old, and putting on the new.

Some stuff is dead, I just don’t realize it yet. Kind of like the oak tree in my front yard.

Being formed into the image of Jesus

Falling leaves, in the spring