Author: Erwin W.

Lutzer

Book Title: Chiseled by the Master’s Hand

Month: September

“Do you ever feel frustrated by the seemingly slow progress of your spiritual growth?” Before

I’ll read the book, I always read first the whole cover of it. And this question above gets my

attention.The rough edges of life don’t seem to get smoothed out, and surely God Himself must

be frustrated by the failures and mistakes we continue to make.

This book “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand will encourage and strengthen us in our walk with

Christ. When God chooses us, He shapes us so that everything standing in the way of our

usefulness is cut away. Well, it is not really that easy to leave our selfish desires but when God

works in us and we are willing to do leave those selfish desires behind, in His miraculous way,

He will shape us in the way wanted us to be. His focus is not on what we do but on what we are

in the hidden parts of the soul. Meaning, His first priority is to shape our character. God’s desire

for us is to have a Christ-like attitude and that is His first duty, to shape us through

circumstances, people around us, and especially the unseen battle within your heart. The God

of Heaven is the Great Sculptor of our lives. He cuts away everything that isn’t like Christ.
This book contains the life of Apostle Peter whom God reshape his life from nobody to

somebody, from unknown to well-known and from Simon to Cephas/Peter. Peter was known

for his boldness to face publicly of different people in the Day of Pentecost where about 3000

people got saved. And yet before, he was so afraid after the capture of Christ to the point that

he even denies himself that he was Christ follower. But despite of that, God reshape him and

become the pillar of the church on Jerusalem. And he was willing to be used by God in

spreading the Gospel to the lost souls.

Erwin W. Lutzer said, “No personality in the bible exhibits so much faith and doubt, courage and

fear, love and impulsiveness”. No other disciple reveals his heart so often and so honestly.

Clarence McCartney said, “the most vivid and intense person portrayed in the Bible. Peter

provides an excellent example of how God shapes a life, beginning with the raw material and

progressing to a more finished product. The Lord’s training technique includes encouragement

and rebuke, public instruction and private reflection. There was joy and sadness, success and

failure. Christ interacted more often with Peter than with any other apostles. Conversion itself

is instantaneously, but the refinement of Peter continued throughout his lifetime. This is

nothing less than the sculpturing of the soul.

Giving up on your journey when you knew that the One who holds our future is supreme and

Power is abomination unto the Lord, right? Because it is as if you didn’t trust His ways and

means for you were in the first place, you already know that in clinging to Him
will result to an absolutely success. Let God reshape you and turn you into a person that has

Christ-like attitude.

This is what I learned from this book. The process is never finished in this life, meaning we can’t

be perfect here on earth. But thankfully, we do not have to be perfect before we can know God

intimately and be used for His glory. History tells us that God uses imperfect people------

graciously blessing many whom we would long since have cast away. He is never finished with

the raw material that is in His loving hands. Our response to His chisel, however, determines

the extent of our usefulness; it determines just how much good we will do that will last for

eternity.