Christ the Master Welder
My friend Neil was the best welder I ever knew. I remember assisting him as he repaired a broken piece of machinery. First, he cut deep into the metal with a grinder to create a clean surface to weld on. Then he grabbed the welding lead, flipped his helmet down, and began to weld. After welding for a few minutes, he stopped, and taking up a hammer, he knocked away the slag. He then took up the welding lead and welded some more, followed by more pounding away with the hammer. After about an hour, the machine was repaired with a strong, clean, smooth bead of welding.
The Master Welder Strengthens
I asked Neil about the strength of the welding. I wanted to know how long his repair job would last. He told me where he had welded was now the strongest part of the metal. He said if the machine broke again, it would be in another place. The grinding, the hammering, and the welding had made that spot stronger than before. Being repaired by the master welder had made the broken machine better than ever.
The Master Welder Shows Mercy
Sometimes, we all get broken in life, and sometimes, we don’t even know that we are broken. When God begins the process of fixing us, we don’t understand why we are suffering. So, we cry out to Him for mercy. The truth is that when God is grinding on us, He is showing us His mercy. When He is cutting, welding, and hammering on us, He is also showing mercy. He is fixing us where we are broken.
The Promise of the Master Welder
You have a promise if you are a child of God. This promise is found in 1 Peter; “After you have suffered for a little while…. Christ Himself will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”
Jesus Christ is the Master Welder. When He has welded together your broken pieces, you will be stronger. You will be stronger than you have ever been before.
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”
I Peter 4:12-19 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/1pe.4.12-19.NKJV
Douglas & Deborah Huff
From Down Where the Pavement Ends
email-pavementendsministry@gmail.com
Sure does fit my life now. Although I am heartbroken, I find myself kind of excited to see what God in store for me now.