My brother recently suffered a serious injury involving a table saw and the middle finger of his right hand. He had to have emergency surgery to clean up and close the wound, in addition to the insertion of a pin to hold the finger in place. As I write this, he is on his way to the doctor to have the pin removed, and they will test the range of motion in his finger. Due to the seriousness of the injury, he has lost three-fourths of the first knuckle; he may have to endure more surgery to repair the damage.

After the accident, he told me of a man who had had a similar incident and had to have the finger fused. The doctor told the man, a bricklayer, that he would have limited mobility in that finger and hand. The man left the doctor's office and went to his truck, he returned with a trowel and told the doctor, "Make it fit around this."

Is this not the attitude that each of us as Christians should have? God made you and me distinct from every other creation. We were created as spiritual beings in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7). Paul wrote, "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" (Romans 9:20-21).

As Christians, we have risen from baptism to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). We should daily be humbling ourselves and allowing the mighty hand of God to continue to mold us and make us into vessels of honor, in the image of His only begotten Son (Romans 8:29). Jesus is to be our example in all things: how we serve others (John 13:15), how we respond to attacks (1 Peter 2:21), how we are humble and obedient to the Father's will (Hebrews 5:8-9).

If you and I will spend each day, diligent in prayer and Bible Study (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:15) and if we will put Christ and the church first in our lives (Matthew 6:33), serving God and others, we will find ourselves more like Him every day.

Remember what Jesus said concerning those who would lay hold of eternal life and then not live faithfully? "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). Be faithful! -355 Klingler Road, Paulding, Ohio 45879-9274. (419) 399-4761 pauldingcoc@windstream.net

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