Stop Trying to Chisel Yourself

It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

Holiness is not self-improvement.

Think of the image of a rock quarry. Ordinary stones everywhere, until a world-renowned sculptor sets up shop. The sculptor chooses a stone and chisels away everything that does not belong, revealing something magnificent that had been hidden within the stone all along. The stone did not make itself beautiful. The stone simply yielded to the master’s hands.

Compare that with another stone, frantic and damaged. It’s covered in self-inflicted chips and cracks from its desperate attempts at self-improvement. And despite exhausting effort, it’s worse than when it started. The conclusion lands hard. Transformation isn’t the stone’s work. It’s the mason’s. The stone’s part is to simply remain still and trust his hands.

That is the correction for spiritual striving. We have all been like that second stone. We have been living our lives, trying so hard to make ourselves holy, to chisel away our own flaws. But holiness is not achieved by frantic fixing. You and I become holy not through our striving, but through God’s transforming work in each one of our lives.

The message is simple: Stop trying to fix it yourself. Put the responsibility for fixing you back where it belongs. Put it all in the Lord’s hands, because He can handle it. Trust that He can shape us to be exactly who He intends for us to be. Holiness is yielded life. It is surrender to the Master’s work.