The God who carves us free...
The God Who Carves Us Free
Michelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
I’ve always loved that.
That's exactly how God sees us.
He sees who He created us to be, before the world bruised us, before religion labeled us, before sin tangled us up in shame, and He carves until we’re free.
Every strike of His chisel is purpose. Every cut is mercy. Every piece that falls away is something we were never meant to carry.
God doesn’t destroy us when He carves.
He reveals us.
I love this quote...
God loves you unconditionally, as you are, not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.
– Brennan Manning
Does God want us to grow? To heal? To change? Absolutely. But that growth and change are not prerequisites for His love.
His love is the constant.
You can’t out-sin it.
You can’t outperform it.
You can’t undo it.
You can’t make Him love you more by being “better,” and you can’t make Him love you less by failing again.
He loved you first.
He loves you still.
And He’s not going anywhere.
The problem is that too many churches have confused holiness with hierarchy. Too many Christians speak of grace but live by scorekeeping.
We talk about “freedom in Christ” but still chain people to shame.
We polish our lives for Sunday while our neighbors are starving for love on Monday. We care more about the image of faith than the impact of it.
Somewhere along the way, we started to think that filling a building with a thousand people was success, but Jesus never called us to build audiences.
He called us to build altars.
He called us to love.
Getting a crowd into a church isn’t the greatest thing a church will ever do.
Loving the community around that church in such a way that they begin to wonder about the source of that love...
That’s where revival begins.
That’s where Jesus shows up.
So let me ask you... Christian, follower of Jesus, church-goer, pastor, whoever you are:
What are you known for?
How you live, or how you love?
Because when you open your Bible, you see a Savior who sat with prostitutes. Who walked with thieves. Who called the rejected, the angry, the addicted, the broken and said, “Follow Me.”
Jesus didn’t just love perfectly polished people.
He loved real people.
And that’s how the world knew Him. Not by His titles, not by His miracles, but by His LOVE.
“A new command I give you,” Jesus said,
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
– John 13:34
That’s not a suggestion.
It’s a command.
It’s us living the good news that's been given to us.
So may we be a people who love like that, who see the angels in the marble, who refuse to give up on the carving, who believe there’s beauty still hidden in the rough edges.
God hasn’t stopped carving.
And neither should we.
Michelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
I’ve always loved that.
That's exactly how God sees us.
He sees who He created us to be, before the world bruised us, before religion labeled us, before sin tangled us up in shame, and He carves until we’re free.
Every strike of His chisel is purpose. Every cut is mercy. Every piece that falls away is something we were never meant to carry.
God doesn’t destroy us when He carves.
He reveals us.
I love this quote...
God loves you unconditionally, as you are, not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.
– Brennan Manning
Does God want us to grow? To heal? To change? Absolutely. But that growth and change are not prerequisites for His love.
His love is the constant.
You can’t out-sin it.
You can’t outperform it.
You can’t undo it.
You can’t make Him love you more by being “better,” and you can’t make Him love you less by failing again.
He loved you first.
He loves you still.
And He’s not going anywhere.
The problem is that too many churches have confused holiness with hierarchy. Too many Christians speak of grace but live by scorekeeping.
We talk about “freedom in Christ” but still chain people to shame.
We polish our lives for Sunday while our neighbors are starving for love on Monday. We care more about the image of faith than the impact of it.
Somewhere along the way, we started to think that filling a building with a thousand people was success, but Jesus never called us to build audiences.
He called us to build altars.
He called us to love.
Getting a crowd into a church isn’t the greatest thing a church will ever do.
Loving the community around that church in such a way that they begin to wonder about the source of that love...
That’s where revival begins.
That’s where Jesus shows up.
So let me ask you... Christian, follower of Jesus, church-goer, pastor, whoever you are:
What are you known for?
How you live, or how you love?
Because when you open your Bible, you see a Savior who sat with prostitutes. Who walked with thieves. Who called the rejected, the angry, the addicted, the broken and said, “Follow Me.”
Jesus didn’t just love perfectly polished people.
He loved real people.
And that’s how the world knew Him. Not by His titles, not by His miracles, but by His LOVE.
“A new command I give you,” Jesus said,
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
– John 13:34
That’s not a suggestion.
It’s a command.
It’s us living the good news that's been given to us.
So may we be a people who love like that, who see the angels in the marble, who refuse to give up on the carving, who believe there’s beauty still hidden in the rough edges.
God hasn’t stopped carving.
And neither should we.
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