Repairing the rusting russet-colored sedan seemed like a waste of time to me. If you searched for “clunker” in Webster’s Dictionary, you’d see a picture of this car. It was in terrible shape: the tires were ashy from wear, the paint was chipped from weather, and the engine sputtered from sitting idle for so long. Despite its sorry state, it was my father’s restoration project for a few weeks. He took a hunk of junk, and burned time, broke sweat, and battered tools to make it run like new. 

Likewise, you are the heavenly Father’s “restoration project” if you have been saved by grace. The Scripture says, “For we are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:10a). The Lord bought you from sin’s junkyard, and He is always working on you to make you run like new (cf. Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10). You are in His workshop of sanctification, but not for self-improvement. God is working on you to make you more like Christ: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). 

Like any good mechanic, the Father uses many tools to fix you up. The Bible is a hammer that God uses to flatten out the dents in your theology (Jer. 23:29). The local church is the place where God gives you a weekly “engine tune up” in order to run effectively for Him throughout the week. Trials and tribulations are the buff pads God uses to polish the scuffs on your faith (James 1:2-4). And prayer is the “jump” that cranks your engine for righteous living, since it is through prayer that we receive God’s own power to obey Him (James 5:16).

God isn’t finished with you yet, but He will finish what He started. The Scripture assures us, “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” (Phil. 1:6). Until then, we must humbly submit to His means and methods of making us what we ought to be. And, we may exuberantly resound the words of He’s Still Workin’ on Me, the gospel classic which says: 

“He’s still workin’ on me

To make me what I ought to be;

It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.

How loving and patient He must be!

He’s still workin’ on me!”

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.