Works of Art in Progress

Based on James 1:17-27

When God made you, God broke the mold. You are unique. Of the billions of people God has made, there has only been one of you. You are a unique, intentional creation of God. Fred Craddock tells the story of a time when he was the pastor of a small country church in Appalachia. On the first day of Vacation Bible School, he got through his lesson plan with the kids under his care in five minutes and had only fifty-five more minutes to go. So, he decided to send the kids out into God’s creation. He said, “I’m going to ring the church bell, and then I want you kids to go outside and find something that God made. And then when you hear the bell ring again, I want you to come back and share what you found and what it tells you about God.” He rang the church bell and the kids scattered. His intention was not to ring the bell again. But after a while he gave in and rang the bell. The kids came back with what they found. Fred asked one of the children, “Mary, what do you have?” She said, “Some huckleberries.” “What does that tell you about God?” “That God is good.” “That’s right. And Johnny, what do you have?” “I have a rock.” “And what does that tell you about God?” “That God is stout.” “Yes, God is stout.” Then there was Larry, the ornery kid, the child that the teachers warn each other about. He had in his hand the hand of his sister who he got from the kindergarten. So, Fred asked, “Larry, who do you have?” “My sister.” “What does she tell you about God?” Larry thought and replied, “I don’t know.” Do you know? I think you do. God made everything in all of creation and called all of it good. But when God made Larry’s little sister, just like when God made you and me, God said, “Ah, this is the best I can do; just like myself.” You and I are the best of what God has made. James refers to us as the first fruits of God’s creation, the best representation of creation itself. God can do no better than when God created you and me.

But we are a work in progress. We are the best God can do but we are all in a process of refinement. A sculptor will look at a block of stone and see in her mind’s eye a beautiful work of art. She just has to break, chip, and shape the rock until that beautiful form comes out. Each of us are masterpieces of God’s creation. But God is still working on us. We get chipped and shaped until that beautiful piece of art that is you emerges. Our whole life is a process of being formed, shaped, refined. Of course, not everything that happens to us was what God had in mind. But God can take every experience we go through and use it to bring out the best in us. That’s our hope when we face stuff in life that somehow God is behind it all, patiently working with us, leading us, shaping us, into who God desires us to become. We are works of art in process.

God works on us through experiences that we have. God also works through people. It is through people that we come to learn and understand who God is and who God wants us to become. Think of the first Sunday School teacher who taught you to sing “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” What about that youth pastor, if you were fortunate to have one, who put up with you, and through silly games, campfire devotions, service projects, and short conversations, continued to build on that foundation of faith. Think of the pastor who saw something in you and encouraged and mentored you to grow deeper in your faith, to organize and lead that mission trip. Think of all the Bible study teachers and conferences you have attended where you were given information and gained insights on how to live God’s way. God doesn’t just use pastors and Sunday school teachers to help shape us into the kind of person God desires us to become. Think of that difficult supervisor who pushed you to up your game, to be a more disciplined and effective worker; the birth of your first child, and the realization that you have a precious life completely dependent on you. Or the person that you have committed to share life with for the rest of your lives. What have they taught you in your years together? God has placed many people in our lives and spoken through them to share with us God’s truths, about how God wants us to live and to love, about who God wants us to become.

Here’s the thing, though. God can work on us through experiences and through the people that God places in our lives. But we have to be open. We have to be humble and willing to listen, really listen, to take a good hard look at what we are learning, like a long gaze in the mirror rather than a quick glance. The first step in learning something is to acknowledge that you don’t know everything, and that this person talking to you may have something to say that you need to know. For God to work on us and shape us, we have to be open, be humble, acknowledge that we are works in progress. God isn’t done with you and no matter how good you feel about yourself, which is important by the way, you are immeasurably precious to God just as you are, but you aren’t finished yet. No matter how comfortable you are in your patterns and habits, there is always more to learn and to master in the art of life.

However, being open to learn isn’t the end. Gaining new knowledge, new insights, about the things of God and about how to live God’s way, how to take care of yourself in more healthy ways, how to love well, learning about these things does you no good unless you take the next step. You have to actually do the things. You have to act, put into practice, what you are learning. Almost all of us can relate to this common scenario. You go to a conference, get a three-ring binder full of great information, ideas and strategies that you can try when you get back home. And when you get home the binder goes on a shelf to collect dust. We just keep doing what we did before. We know better but we don’t act better. Using James’ image of the mirror, we look at the mirror, see what we need to change about ourselves, and then walk away from the mirror and quickly forget what we saw and what we intended to do about it, returning to our familiar habits and patterns. It is a tragedy that is repeated over and over. I’m embarrassed to admit how common it is for me, as a person who loves learning things but struggles to put what I learn into actual practice. We all get set in our ways and it is hard to break it. To become what God wants us to be, we have to act on the insights and truths, that implanted word that James writes about. We have to allow ourselves to be chipped, shaped, refined.

It isn’t easy. To change habits and patterns, to change the way we think about things or let go of what we thought was true but maybe isn’t true, it’s hard. It can be painful. It can be scary. The first time you got on a bike, that was scary. You felt awkward. You fell down a lot. You got bruised and maybe scraped your knee. But you had someone by your side to help. Maybe it was your dad who would run alongside, holding the bike as you increase your speed, and then he says, “OK, I’m going to let go.” “No, daddy, don’t let go!” “Son, I have to.” And dad lets go, you try to keep your balance and peddle, but over you go again. Dad picks you back up, helps you get back on, and encourages you to keep trying. Over and over, the process continues. But then, when dad lets go of the bike this time, off you went. All the awkwardness and fear melt away into the freedom of being able to ride that bike on your own. You speed down the sidewalk and on to new possibilities.

There are a lot of “bikes” we need to learn to ride through our lives: how to be a good student, how to be a good worker, how to be a good friend or spouse, how to be a good parent, how to be good at our vocation, how to navigate through the different stages of life. Growing up, maturing, is a process. There are people beside you all along the way. There is also a lot of awkwardness and a bit of fear from time to time. We fall down a lot. We get hurt. And there’s all kinds of influences that try to get us off track. James talks about how desire gives birth to sin which gives birth to death. He talks about how anger can throw us off track. He talks about how “sordidness and rank growth of wickedness” gets in the way of our progress. There is the temptation to learn what to do but then not acting on what you know, looking in the mirror and then forgetting what you saw. Absolutely, it is a struggle.

But it’s not hopeless. There are moments where we have breakthroughs, and we are free of old habits and ways of thought that blocked us from becoming who God intends us to be. Another chip has been cleared away. We experience growth. What once was awkward becomes natural. All along, God was with us. The one who James says is the source of every gift continually gives what we need as we strive to put into action what we are learning. And when we get the lesson, here comes the next challenge, the next barrier to break through, the next piece of stone that needs to be broken off. God is never finished with us. That masterpiece that is you, the best that God can create, the first fruit of all creation, is a work in progress. May we yield to God’s creative hand, and through learning and doing, slowly become all God desires us to become, for God’s glory.