Day 4 – Forty Days in the Shade of God’s Care
The Irrational Boast of a Self-Made Man
Towering proudly in Boulder, Colorado stands a bronze statue, The Self-Made Man. Bobbie Carlyle’s carving portrays humanity, creating himself from a chunk of stone: hammer raised in one hand—a chisel in the other. I recently discovered the existence of this statue during a conversation with a woman at the San Jose airport. Our statue boasts of Boulder’s core belief: we create our own destiny.
Today billions of people etch this ideology on their souls: Self-Made Man—Self-Made Woman.
Personally, I shudder at the idea. On my best day, the scale quivers right around average. On my own, I am an ordinary gal, accomplishing ordinary things. However, I am not bound to ordinary, self-made limits. None of us are. We may appear common humans, but there is nothing commonplace about us. We are hand-crafted by an extra-ordinary God. Scripture states:
We are HIS workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
~ Ephesians 3:20
He holds the hammer and chisel, carving us with his boundless power. He designs us for infinite works. Our best is no longer the best we can do. Our best becomes the best an Omnipotent God can accomplish. This certainty removes all restrictions of a self-made ideology. It we must boast, let’s boast in the fact we are empowered by Almighty God to accomplish our unique destiny in Christ.