July 2026 – Page 2 – Paul Nordman

God’s Vision: Works of Art from Blocks of Wood

My friend Doug McBride is an outstanding woodcarver. How one can take a small block of timber and transform it into a unique image and with such great expression, I cannot relate; I can only admire and appreciate. It takes vision, I’m sure, and time. Add to that, patience and perseverance and, from these come great pleasure and astounding workmanship. Then with each piece Doug finishes, his collection of characters grows, each with its own personality, just as he intends.

Did you know God likewise sees something in us “blocks of wood,” and that He also has a vision for what we can and will be? He does! In 1 Corinthians 15:42-53, Paul teaches believers about the new Christlike bodies that await us. Our natural bodies—broken, weak, and perishable—they will die. But all who live in Christ Jesus by faith in Him will be raised in glorious, strong, and spiritual bodies that will never die.¹ “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man [Adam],” writes the apostle, “so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man [Jesus].”² Paul’s eager anticipation shouts immutably through his pen: “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”³ This will happen “in the twinkling of an eye.”⁴

Yet not all transformation happens instantaneously, nor is change limited to our bodies, for God works even now in our inmost being. Paul again: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”⁵ The passive voice, “we are being renewed,” tells us someone else is artfully working renewal within us, namely God. What will His masterpiece look like, what does He envision for us? He has chosen us “to become like his Son.”⁶ Each of us different, yet all of us like Jesus.

The prolific apostle marvels, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”⁷ Only God can envision our best, only He can plan it, and only He can produce His marvelous works from us blocks of wood. Both now and over time, both inside and out. Today and every today, may we entrust ourselves entirely to Him, our God, and His work in us, His people.

Father, your heart is good toward us, and your plans for us are perfect. Send your Spirit, that we will entrust ourselves completely to your vision for us and rest in what you are forming us to be. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
² 1 Corinthians 15:49 NIV
³ 1 Corinthians 15:52 NIV, emphasis added
⁴ 1 Corinthians 15:52 NIV
⁵ 2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
⁶ Romans 8:29 NLT
⁷ 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

From God to Us: A New Heart

Volunteering at an area drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, my friend Scott occasionally reminds its residents, “Give up all hope of a better past.” He’s right, we cannot change the mistakes and failures that lie behind us—not to mention the pains suffered at the hands of others—nor must we let them deprive us of a victorious today. Then in a similar vein, let us consider this corollary: “Give up all hope of a better sin nature.” Think of our sin nature—or “flesh,” as the apostle Paul calls it—as the human inclination toward sin. In last week’s post, we beheld this flesh for what it is: hostile to God and non-submissive to Him,¹ opposed to the Spirit,² and bearing rotten fruit.³ This is the nature of our flesh and, like our past, we cannot change it. We can modify our outward behaviors to a certain extent, but we cannot, in our own power, change our heart’s natural proclivity toward sin.

And to this we say, “Good!” For God has a better way: He gives us a new heart, His heart; He gives us new life, His Spirit in us. We should not be surprised, for God preannounced His plan several hundred years before its fulfillment in Jesus’ redemptive work and the sending of His Spirit. Through the prophet Ezekiel God foretold: “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”⁴ The Holy Spirit in us would incline our heart toward God’s heart, conform our desires toward His desires, and align our ways with His ways. This was God’s plan, and He has done it. Paul writes to early believers, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”⁵ Ah, the proactive love of our initiating God!

Then as God continually transforms us into the image of His Son, what must we do? We recalibrate our hearts and minds. Paul writes the Colossians, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”⁶ To the Galatians he urged, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”⁷ And to believers in Rome, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that . . . you may discern what is the will of God.”⁸

“To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace,”⁹ assures the apostle. Isn’t this what we want?

Father, “teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!”¹⁰ In Christ I pray. Amen.

¹ Romans 8:7
² Galatians 5:17
³ Galatians 5:19-21
⁴ Ezekiel 36:26-27 NLT
⁵ Philippians 2:13 NLT
⁶ Colossians 3:1-2 NIV
7 Galatians 5:16 ESV
⁸ Romans 12:2 ESV
⁹ Romans 8:6 ESV
¹⁰ Psalm 143:10 ESV