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Key Bible Verse: No one is able to say "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3)
Bonus Reading: 1 John 4:1-6

As I was sitting in the doctor's waiting room one day, my eye was drawn to a remarkable picture of a man being sculpted. The sculpture was complete down to about midthigh, and the finished work showed a very robust and muscular man with the kind of physique all men would like to have.

The striking thing about the picture, however, was that the artist had put the hammer and chisel in the hands of the man being sculpted.

I was fascinated by the picture and wondered what message the artist was trying to convey. Perhaps he was trying to paint a picture of the so-called self-made man.

As I studied the picture, however, I marveled at how accurately it depicted the manner in which many Christians go about trying to live the Christian life. We try to change ourselves. We take what we think are the tools of spiritual transformation into our own hands and try to sculpt ourselves into robust, Christlike specimens.

But the truth is that spiritual transformation is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Master Sculptor.

—Jerry Bridges in The Discipline of Grace

—Oswald Chambers (British teacher, chaplain, 20th century)

Adapted from: The Disciplines of Grace (NavPress, 1994) with permission.

For your convenience, The Disciplines of Grace is available in the ChristianityToday.com bookstore.

Prayer for the Week

Father, motivate me to cooperate with your Spirit to build holiness into my life.

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