…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13,14)
A few years ago I invited a messianic Jewish evangelist by the name of Dr. Howard Morgan to come speak to us about our Hebrew roots. During one of his messages he gave a wonderful illustration that really blessed me. I want to share it with you in hopes God will use it to encourage you as well.
Dr. Morgan visits England each year for special meetings. In one of those visits he visited a famous glassblowers’ shop. With wonderment and awe Dr. Morgan watched the master glassblower work. The glassblower created beautiful and seemingly flawless artistic masterpieces right in front of his eyes. Dr. Morgan wondered about the glassblower. He thought about the years it would take in order to master such a craft.
When the glassblower was finished with one of his creations Dr. Morgan began to speak with him. He asked him what one had to do in order to become a master glassblower. The man merely answered, “You have to break a lot of glass.”
His answer let Dr. Morgan know that his life had been filled with imperfection and mistakes. The difference between him and others was simply that this glassblower never gave up his pursuit to master his craft. He came to class every day. Broken glass and deformed pieces of work came with the territory if one was to excel as a glassblower.
What would have happened to this man if he had responded to his failures by giving up and never coming back to class? The answer is simple. He would have never become a glassblower, nor would he ever have become a famous master at his craft. Beauty that could have blessed thousands would never have found its mark on admiring hearts.
This is a lot like the Christian life. We are always learning. In the process we shouldn’t be surprised that we break some glass along the way. God certainly isn’t. The broken glass is necessary to teach us things we need to know and understand. When the glass breaks so many get discouraged and quit coming back to class. We are convinced the teacher must think we are no good and that we are failures.
We often think like this because we have an accuser that tells us we are awful, and that we are fools for even trying to live for Christ. He displays our dismal failures before us, shames us with hellish laughter and mockery. He tells us the teacher is so disappointed in us and that we should stop coming. This accuser will never speak of our potential, but only of our imperfections and mistakes. We look at all the broken glass around us and find ourselves in agreement. We lose hope and begin to skip class using all kinds of excuses and justifications. We have accepted the lies of the accuser.
But in truth the teacher thinks the opposite. Our broken glass will never upset Him. It is anticipated. The teachers’ heart is never that His students quit, but only that they keep coming back to class. The Christian life is one of growing in grace, not “arriving in grace”. The blood of Jesus has paid for all the broken glass. His hearts’ desire is that we finish our course. The God of the bible doesn’t concentrate on His children’s broken glass. He concentrates on the blood of His Son that paid for it all. Get back in class!!!
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