10/19/2025
Are we quietly preparing ourselves for those things that the Lord will have us do for His kingdom? How about for the return of His Son Jesus? Do we find that we are so busy doing day-to-day worldly tasks that we forget to plan and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s ultimate return? If we look at our daily lives do we find that we are treating this world as if it were the next… as if it is our ultimate destination? Sometimes we forget that this is only a shipyard in which we are being fitted, faired, and prepared to sail and not the open sea that we are meant to hoist sail upon once we are completed in Christ.
“Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."”
John 18:36 ESV
I saw a wonderful documentary on television about building wooden boats by hand. These were the kind of boats that were in use during the time of Jesus. One of the interesting techniques was how the boards were bent around the internal frame without breaking or allowing them to pull themselves loose. To accomplish this the boatbuilder would build a fire beneath a long tray containing water. Then he would lay the prepared planks over the tray and cover it within a steam-box. This would allow the steam from the boiling water to soak deep into the boards and make them pliable. Then, when just the right amount of water had been absorbed, the planks were removed and either bent around the internal skeleton of the boat and pegged into place or shaped on a bending table that had been prepared to the exact shape needed. In this way the boards would dry and take on the shape of the hull. The same process is used to this day, but the steamers are much more automated and modern. Taking a board that by its very nature is straight and bending it into a curved shape takes some doing but gives it strength and beauty once completed... so does bending a man's will to the shape that God desires.
The art of wooden boat building is one that takes much time to master, and the actual building of the boat itself is a long and tedious process as well. Ancient boatbuilders didn't have power tools and they didn't rush to turn out more boats by sacrificing quality. As craftsmen they would pride themselves first and foremost on the quality of their work... not how quickly they could do it. Steaming takes time, about an hour per inch of thickness at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This is precise work and there is no shortcut. The same was true of the coming of the Messiah and will be true of the second coming of Christ… the timing is precise.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5 ESV
“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."”
Luke 17:20-21 ESV
As our planks are being prepared for their final installation onto the hull of our boat God makes shapes us and makes us fair. This isn’t the same word we use every day to determine if we are being treated equitably, it has a totally different meaning… listen…
“When wood is bent or curved or cut, or a line drawn, a boatbuilder must be concerned with fairness. A “fair curve” or line is one that is as smooth as it can be as it follows the hull of a boat. A fair line is free of extraneous bumps or hollows, and an unfair line needs to be faired, or smoothed out.” - www.clcboats.com
God is constantly examining our planks and fittings with His perfect eye to determine if they fit perfectly alongside Jesus on the hull. He looks for straight lines and a smooth surface; He looks for cracks, or dips in them that would make the boat unsightly or might keep it from moving smoothly through the water without drag. If He sees an imperfection in them then he can either apply His hand to the blemish and remove it or compensate for it in the next board. That is similar to what Jesus has done for us... His shape is the adjustment that makes us fair... He makes our edges appear smooth and makes us perfect in our fit. Jesus takes the imperfections in us and makes them fair in Him.
So, we go through life and God works on our imperfections, and as He does, he lifts us time and again to the hull of His boat and holds us up next to Jesus to look at us with His perfect eye... are we fair? Are we smooth? Do we flow with the lines of His boat? Are we perfectly fitted? This takes time to accomplish and much skill and patience. So, let’s ask ourselves if, for our part, are we willing to allow God the time He needs to perfect us, or do we get frustrated and fall from His hand? The boatbuilder loves the finished boat he has built, but no more so than each individual part that he meticulously shaped. God is our Boatbuilder, and he takes all the time He needs to perfect us, but we need to allow Him that time as He planes us smooth and steams us into shape. Pastor Oswald Chambers spoke a bit to this point in my devotional reading this morning when he said...
"We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live. In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as His Master. The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men." - Oswald Chambers
If he had used the analogy of boat building, Chambers would have said that today we have a tendency to rush into building our vessels. He would also have warned us that the boat doesn’t tell the boatbuilder how it is to be built. The love and building of a fair boat is a partnership between the boatbuilder, the wood, and the sailor who will sail it. Although the sailors don’t build their own boats, they must allow the boatbuilder time to complete them, and this process takes is meticulous. They must have patience and confidence in the builder’s skill as he finishes his work. For his part, the boatbuilder is concerned about the ultimate use of the boat but he also wants the sailor to love it’s beauty as much as he does... to revel in its lines and fairness... to feel the crispness as it cuts through the water... to hear the wind popping the sails as they fill.
Here is a final interesting observation I wish to make about wooden boatbuilders and the wooden boats they build... they rarely sail them themselves. They put all their skill, sweat, blood, and love into them, and then deliver them, complete, to those who will put them to use. God does this for us as well. He applies all His love and attention to perfecting our boat; then He hands it, the boat that is our eternal life, over to us and says, “sail her; she is fair in all ways, she is pleasing to my eye, and she is eternally yours!”
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the craftsmanship you are putting into my life. You are perfecting me Lord and making me fair in all my ways. Your hand smooths my blemishes and removes my imperfections. You set me beside your Son Jesus Christ and Judge me, then you use His life, death, and resurrection to hide those places where my lines are not true. You mold me in your hand Father until at last I am the picture of fairness. You prepare me to withstand the roughest of seas, and to cut swiftly through the waters of my life. I may use my boat to fish from, gather sponges, or to do many other tasks, but the joy and purpose in your eyes is in my sailing her. You give me life Father, and you give it to me abundantly. By your hand I can navigate and sail to where you wait for me... it is the vessel of our relationship and carries your love as its ballast. Guide me by the stars you have placed in the heavens and steady my hand on the tiller in the rough seas through which I pass. Never let me doubt your handiwork and the strength you have built into me. Let me feel your breath in my sails and the spray on my face. In this boat I love you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength… even as you love me and this vessel you have prepared for me. I bear your name Father, it is stamped upon my keel, and placed as a banner atop my sails... you are my God and in you I trust all things... I trust this the fair vessel of my life in Christ and you. Praised be your name Father!!!
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes