forged

"All metals get harder when a smith hammers or bends them. This is called 'work-hardening'." (from Wikipedia online reference)

I was thinking about our "will" power.  We can direct our wills many different ways.  I think we often direct them to serve ourselves...we are naturally self-centered.  And I was thinking about the desire we have to see our wills shaped so that we willingly choose to set our minds, our motivations, our hearts on the Lord.  And I realized that an apt analogy for this life is found in the blacksmith's shop.  The Lord is the blacksmith and we are the raw iron.  He picks us up with mighty hands and heats us with fiery trials.  Once we are softened, He hammers with blows that come lovingly and skillfully, though there can be shock and pain and we are shaken.  He does this on the anvil of our days and through our circumstances.  Just as the iron only stays hot enough to be shaped for a short time, so these trials often are intense but brief periods.  But after the hammering and after the cool-down we are shaped a little more into the image of the Son.  He is faithful to continue the project throughout our days and we ultimately will recognize the Savior as we are conformed to Him.  

This morning I thanked the Lord for the free will He has given me but also thanked Him for the hammer, the heat and the anvil to shape this will to willingly choose Him...more and more!

 

Romans 8:⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.