“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Phi 2:13
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Phi 1:6
So many of us are rigid. Our wills so frequently resist bending to the voice of God. We are set in our ways. We easily fall into sin. God therefore has to bend us. A rod of steel is strong and stiff. It does not easily bend. It remains rigid even under the greatest of pressure. It does what it wants regardless of the forces put upon it. The only thing that bends or snaps a rod is heat, force, or pressure. For many of us we are that rod. Rigid, inflexible, unbendable.
For men, heat, force, and pressure are what change us.
The work of God in the Christian man’s life is to take the rod and transform it. To make the rod something new and to use the rod for new purposes. God takes the rod and bends it and shapes us into the very image of Jesus. In Christ we are less rigid and inflexible. We become fit for the Master’s use (2Ti 2:21). We no longer walk in shame confident and healed because we know all our sins are forgiven. We are prepared to fulfill our dominion calling (Gen 1:28) and somehow do greater works than Jesus did. We now can be the light of the world to a lost and dying world (Mat 5:14).
We hear these truths, but when we search our hearts we come up lacking. We hear that God wants to transform us but we doubt. We know our purpose as men is to exercise dominion and stewardship over the gifts entrusted to us but we question our competence. We get even more uneasy when we are told we will do greater works than Jesus. We freeze when we hear Jesus say we are the light of the world. How could I be a light for anyone?
But the truth remains, He has chosen us. We are called. He does the work necessary to bend the rod. He will make us into the men He has called us to be. A bent rod will share gospel truth because he is no longer ashamed of it. A bent rod will share light with family and co-workers lost in the darkness of this present day. A bent rod will love both neighbor and enemy with the love of God.
The rod does not easily bend. The work of gospel transformation has a price. The rod only bends when placed in the fire. When it is crushed by the hammer and reshaped into something new. The bent rod looks at Jesus and the cross and learns that the antidote to the suffering of the bend is our full surrender. When we learn to surrender our will, our life, our all, we will begin to see the fruits of bending. We begin to rejoice in the deep work of God in our lives. We bend down and bow down before Him.
The Next Question.
– Where in your life does the rod need to bend?
– Where in your life do you keep failing, unable to allow God to bend the rod?
– Can you commit to prayer and confess to a brother today what the Spirit tells you?