"I'm not done yet..."

I can remember a time when I was watching a small child draw a picture. Each time I thought the child was done with the picture I would make a comment about it or compliment him on it only to hear him say, “I’m not done yet!” Truth be told, I was getting impatient because I had no idea what the end result was supposed to look like and to be honest, the improvements that were being made certainly didn’t seem to add anything to the picture’s intelligibility or aesthetic quality. Once the project was finally declared to be done, I looked at it, smiled and said, “wow, that’s really good….what is it?” The young boy was disappointed that I could not tell what it was and then explained the picture to me. The picture was then posted on the inside of my locker at work.

When I moved from a locker to a desk, a different type of art decked my walls. I took up digital photography as a hobby and loved to take pictures of landscapes, cityscapes, etc. just about anything that did not have a person in it was fair game. The pictures that I thought were the best were printed out in 8” x 10” format and put into a simple black frame. The picture was then hung on the wall both for others and me to admire. To me, displaying the pictures was not just showing off my artistic eye (part of it was) but instead it was a statement of what I thought was beautiful. I loved to capture the many colors and details of nature because it is God’s creation and nothing can really top it. Each picture captures the moment precisely and freezes it so that it can be admired. It fits nicely into a frame and easy to consider it complete or perfect (having been done or made to fulfillment).

It is interesting then to consider what each of us considers beautiful. There are those of us like me who like to look at the finished product and capture it in a frame. Others are willing to patiently wait until the young artist is done with his drawing and then exudes great excitement and joy at the marvelous creation. On the one hand, we appreciate the final product and on the other, we appreciate not only the process by which the drawing is made but also our love for the artist. It is this love for the artist that allows a parent to proudly display some of the most hideous looking markings to ever hit paper on the walls of their office or refrigerator.

By now, you probably know where I am going with this inadequate metaphor. Just in case you don’t, let me share with you a few verses from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper function of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love. (Eph 4:11-16)

I share this verse because it talks about the formation that each of us must go through in order to be further conformed to the image of Christ. We were together in building up this image. In order for the body to mature, each part of the body must also grown and mature. We do not grow without direction, but we grow “in him who is the head, Christ.”

The growing process is not easy (not unique to seminary). Many of us find an excuse not to do it. We want the growing process to be over as soon as possible because we want to display the framed image of the final (and thus perfected) product. We fail to see how each new addition, subtraction, modification adds to the completion of the final image. We become impatient. We want to see the final image and to know what it looks like. We want to know how close the artist is to being done. We resist any further growth because we want to be the fulfillment of that image that he is asking us to be and we want to be it now. Well, at least I do. Instead I think we need to patiently here the Lord when he tells us, “I’m not done yet. Wait until you see what I intend the image to look like. Just trust me. Be the clay in my hands as I mold you into who I want you to be.” And when the picture is done (whenever that may be) or even as it is a work in progress, we can rest assured that God looks on the image of who we are with the loving eyes of a proud Father as it declares it to be “good. It is very good.”

Forgive the rambling. It’s not meant to be that deep of a reflection. The message is really quite simple. Let us be patient with the Lord as he forms us and those around us so that we may be a strong unified body.

Be assured of my prayers.

Pax Tecum,
Tom