{"id":36248,"date":"2016-08-31T09:22:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=36248"},"modified":"2016-08-31T09:22:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T15:22:00","slug":"god-as-sculptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/08\/god-as-sculptor.html","title":{"rendered":"God as sculptor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ft.<\/a>
A park in Pecan Grove, Fort Bend County, Texas \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA sculptor does not use a \u2018manicure set\u2019 to reduce the crude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you, God will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be!\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A. W. Tozer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I encountered this statement last night, during the monologue of a short documentary-interview film called The Heart of Texas<\/a><\/em> that I watched on BYU-TV.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not, I think, a great movie. \u00a0But the (true) story that it tells is a great one, of appalling tragedy followed by movingly\u00a0powerful forgiveness. \u00a0Of Christianity at its purest and most elemental.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cA sculptor does not use a \u2018manicure set\u2019 to reduce the crude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you, God will take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGod as sculptor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    "A sculptor does not use a 'manicure set' to reduce the crude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. 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