I’m not sure of the first time I
heard the phrase, Meet Your Maker; maybe some old
cowboy movie, “Prepare to meet your maker Billy
Ray!” or perhaps a friend riding in my car, “Slow
down, I’m not ready to meet my maker today!” or
maybe it was some preacher from the past, “One day,
we will all meet our maker.” Regardless, this
expression has been around a long time. For
Christians, it is a part of our basic beliefs that,
after death, we all return to God to be judged by
our creator, our maker.
But there is more to meeting our maker than just
that moment of our last breath. We can meet Him
right now, right where you live! We’re invited to
come close and meet our maker each and every day.
The more we get to know Him, the more we will begin
to imitate Him.
We get the privilege of modeling our maker to the
people around us. We get to show others God’s love
and grace and joy and forgiveness. We mirror our
maker. After all, we’re made in His image.
My three-year-old granddaughter has started walking
around spitting. Not at anyone, just on the ground.
According to her mother, my daughter, it was
something she saw me doing and started imitating me.
You could say she is the spitting image of me (when
you read this, know that I’m still giggling).
We are constantly in danger of letting the world
define our image instead of God. It is only natural
to shape our self-image by the attitudes and
opinions of our parents, our peer groups and our
society. But what is natural is not always healthy.
It is only when we define ourselves by the truths of
God’s Word rather than the thinking and experiences
of the world that we can discover the identity our
maker dreamed for us. God wants us to look like Him.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story called “The
Great Stone Face.” The story is about a mountain
overlooking a village, and on this mountain within
the rock formations was a clearly defined stone face
of a kind old man. Legend has it that one day a man
with that face would come and visit the village and
he would be a wonderful blessing to all the
villagers.
A boy named Ernest heard that legend, loved the
story, and longed for that man to come soon. The boy
would gaze continually upon that great stone face,
studying its contours and contemplating all the ways
that man could bring a blessing to that village.
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As Ernest grew older, he often would
take long walks out to the great stone face and just
sit and gaze at it. It was a daily practice for
Ernest to spend time at the Great Stone Face. Ernest
became more and more well-known for his kindness and
love for the village he was a part of, and he became
known for his wisdom and care for the villagers. One
day, a man was walking with Ernest past the Great
Stone Face and as the man looked at the mountain and
looked at Ernest his mouth suddenly dropped open in
shock and he said with great joy, “Ernest, you look
just like the Great Stone Face.” Suddenly, the man
threw his arms around Ernest and shouted again,
“Behold! Ernest is the likeness of the Great Stone
Face!” Ernest had become like the one he beheld.
We each are asked to become more and more like our
maker. But in order to mirror Him well, we need to
know Him well. If we’re to become like Him, we must
first study His face. If we’re ever to be His
spitting image, we must come close and adopt His
ways.
Our world is in a desperate state of needing to see
God. They need His love, His kindness, His grace,
and His joy more than ever. You and I are their best
chances of seeing Him today.
[Ron Otto, Preaching Minister at
Lincoln Christian Church in Lincoln] |
