Beyond “What Would Jesus Do?”: My Journey from Frustrated Mimic to Joyful Apprentice

Introduction: The Bracelet on My Wrist and the Ache in My Soul

I still remember the feel of it, the woven fabric of the bracelet snug against my wrist.

It was the mid-1990s, and four letters had captured the imagination of my youth group and, it seemed, the entire evangelical world: W.W.J.D. “What Would Jesus Do?” The question was more than a slogan; it was a promise, a spiritual technology, a direct line to a more godly life.

I wore that bracelet with the earnest sincerity of a young believer who desperately wanted to get it right.

I wanted to honor God, to live a life that reflected His goodness.

And this simple question seemed to be the key.

In every interaction, every decision, I would glance at my wrist and ask the question.

When a classmate was cruel, I would ask, What would Jesus do? and try to muster a gentle response, even as anger coiled in my gut.

When a friend was in need, I’d ask the question and try to be generous, even as selfishness whispered its protests.

When faced with temptation, I’d ask the question and try to choose the righteous path, even as my desires pulled me in the opposite direction.

I was trying to follow the Apostle Paul’s profound instruction to the church in Ephesus: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children”.¹

The Greek word,

mimētai, from which we get our word “mimic,” seemed to confirm my approach.¹

I was to be a mimic of God, a mime of Christ.

On the surface, it was a noble effort.

I was attempting to live out Paul’s other great charge to the Corinthians: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ”.⁴

But beneath the surface, a deep and troubling disconnect was growing.

The more I tried to

act like Jesus, the more I felt like a fraud.

My outward performance of patience, kindness, and piety was a thin veneer over an inner world of turmoil, resentment, and un-Christlike thoughts.

The gap between the man I was pretending to be and the man I actually was grew into a chasm.

This wasn’t just about occasional failure; it was a constant, gnawing sense of hypocrisy.⁵

The very effort to imitate Christ was producing in me the one thing He seemed to despise most: the spirit of a Pharisee, a whitewashed tomb beautiful on the outside but full of death within.⁵

This created a debilitating cycle.

I would strive with all my willpower to perform the actions of Jesus, inevitably fail, and then be crushed by guilt.

The guilt would then fuel a renewed, more frantic effort to try harder, to be better.

It was a spiritual hamster wheel powered by shame and doomed to failure.

I was trying to follow the right commands, but something was profoundly wrong with my method.

The well-intentioned question on my wrist had become a constant reminder of my inadequacy.

It framed my spiritual life as an external, cognitive exercise in behavioral modification, a checklist of Christ-like actions to perform.

It focused on the fruit—the outward actions—without ever teaching me how to tend to the root, the inner person from which all action springs.⁷

I was trying to be an imitator, but I was only a mimic, and the ache in my soul told me there had to be a better Way.

Part I: The Epiphany in the Workshop: From Mimicry to Apprenticeship

The Breaking Point and the Dark Night

The framework I had so carefully constructed came crashing down during a conflict within a small ministry I was helping to lead.

A sensitive situation involving two members required delicate, wise intervention.

Armed with my WWJD bracelet and a head full of “what Jesus would do,” I stepped in.

I tried to apply a formula of compassion and truth, but my actions were clumsy, my words hollow.

I was performing a role, and everyone could feel it.

Instead of bringing reconciliation, my efforts deepened the wound, created more mistrust, and left me feeling like a complete and utter failure.

The experience was more than just embarrassing; it was soul-crushing.

It laid bare the bankruptcy of my approach.

My best attempt to “be Jesus” in a situation had made things demonstrably worse.

That failure was the catalyst for a period of profound spiritual disorientation.

Theologians and mystics throughout history have called it the “dark night of the soul,” a time when God feels terrifyingly absent and the foundations of one’s faith are shaken to the core.⁹

For me, it was less a single night and more of a long, gray twilight of the heart.

The prayers that once brought comfort now felt like empty words echoing in a void.

The scriptures that had been a source of life felt like a book of impossible demands.

I was plagued by a deep, existential doubt: if my best efforts to live the Christian life resulted in such failure and hypocrisy, was the whole thing a sham? Was I just playing a game I could never win? This wasn’t just sadness or burnout; it was the complete collapse of the only spiritual operating system I had ever known.¹¹

I was lost, and the God I was trying so hard to imitate felt a million miles away.

The Epiphany: The Master Craftsman Analogy

The turning point didn’t come in a church service or a prayer meeting.

It came late one night while I was aimlessly watching a documentary about a master luthier, a craftsman who builds exquisite guitars by hand.

I was mesmerized as the camera followed the relationship between the old, weathered master and his young apprentice.

I watched the apprentice, not just copying the master’s movements, but inhabiting his world.

He didn’t just learn to cut a dovetail joint; he learned to see the grain of the wood, to feel the tension in the strings, to understand the soul of the instrument.

He lived in the workshop, breathing in the scent of sawdust and shellac.

He learned by watching, by listening, by doing, and, crucially, by making mistakes that the master would patiently help him correct.

He wasn’t trying to build a guitar like the master; he was learning the master’s way of being so that he, too, could become a true craftsman.

In that moment, a profound epiphany struck me with the force of a physical blow.

A new paradigm for my entire spiritual life unfolded in my mind.

Imitating Christ is not about being a mimic; it is about becoming His apprentice.

This one shift in metaphor changed everything.

The Christian life was not a performance to be staged, but a craft to be learned.

Jesus was not a static, historical example to be copied, but a living, present Master to be with.

The goal was not to ask from a distance, “What would Jesus do?” but to ask from the intimacy of the workshop, “Master, how are you at work here? How can I participate with you in what you are doing?” This reframed the entire endeavor from one of external behavioral conformity to one of internal, relational transformation.¹⁴

This new model resolved the tension I had long felt between the call to imitate Christ and the theological reality of union with Christ.¹⁷

The mimicry model places these two in opposition: you try to imitate Jesus with your own strength in the hopes of one day feeling united with Him.

But the apprenticeship model reveals their perfect harmony.

An apprentice is, by definition, in union with the master.

They abide in the master’s presence, in his workshop.

Their work is the natural overflow of that union.

Imitation is not the path

to union; union is the absolute precondition for authentic imitation.

We don’t strive to be like Jesus in order to get close to Him; we draw close to Him, as an apprentice to a Master, and find ourselves, by His grace, slowly becoming like Him.¹⁷

This realization was the light at the end of my long, dark night.

It didn’t instantly solve all my problems, but it gave me a new, grace-filled, and sustainable path forward.

It was a way of life based not on my performance, but on His presence.

Table: Two Models of Imitation: Mimicry vs. Apprenticeship

To truly grasp the radical shift this new paradigm represents, it helps to see the two models side-by-side.

The following table contrasts the frustrating path of the mimic with the life-giving journey of the apprentice.

Aspect	The Mimic’s Model (Performance-Based)	The Apprentice’s Model (Presence-Based)
Core Question	“What would Jesus do?” (A cognitive exercise)	“How is the Master at work?” (A relational inquiry)
Primary Goal	Behavioral conformity; acting like Jesus.	Internal transformation; becoming like Jesus.
Source of Power	Human willpower, effort, and self-discipline.	The indwelling Holy Spirit; the Master’s power.
View of Failure	A sign of personal inadequacy, leading to guilt and shame.	An opportunity for learning, grace, and deeper dependence on the Master.
Role of Scripture	A rulebook of commands to be followed; a script to be memorized.	The Master’s story to be inhabited; blueprints for the craft of life.
View of Spiritual Disciplines	A checklist of duties to perform to earn favor or prove piety.	The tools and exercises used in the workshop to learn the Master’s ways.
Relationship to Christ	A distant, historical figure to be copied.	A living, present Master to be with, learn from, and follow.
Primary Focus	Outward actions and appearances.	The inner life of the heart, mind, and soul.
Underlying Economy	Legalism: “I obey, therefore I am accepted.”	Grace: “I am accepted, therefore I can obey.”

This table became my compass.

It helped me diagnose the old, broken patterns of thinking and intentionally choose the new, life-giving framework of apprenticeship.

It was the beginning of a journey out of the exhaustion of mimicry and into the joy of the Master’s workshop.

Part II: The Master’s Workshop — The Indispensable Role of Community

An apprentice cannot learn a craft in a vacuum.

A luthier does not mail a set of instructions to a student and expect them to produce a masterpiece.

The learning happens in the workshop, a place of shared space, shared tools, and shared life.

For the apprentice of Jesus, that workshop is the Church.

This was another revolutionary piece of the puzzle for me.

My mimicry model had been intensely individualistic.

It was about my performance, my failures, my relationship with God.

But the apprenticeship model blew the doors off my solitary spiritual life and ushered me into the bustling, messy, and absolutely essential community of the craft.

The New Testament is saturated with this communal vision.

Paul’s favorite metaphor for the church is not a collection of individuals, but a single, living “body of Christ”.²⁰

In this body, each person is a unique and necessary part—an eye, a hand, a foot.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The health of the entire body depends on the interconnected, interdependent functioning of every single member.²⁰

Another powerful image is that of a “spiritual family,” a household where believers are not isolated units but brothers and sisters, growing together from spiritual infancy toward maturity under the care of a loving Father.²²

The hundreds of “one another” commands scattered throughout the epistles—”love one another,” “encourage one another,” “bear one another’s burdens,” “forgive one another”—are the practical, daily instructions for how to live and work together in the Master’s workshop.

This communal context is not an optional extra for the particularly extroverted; it is God’s chosen environment for spiritual formation.

The workshop of the church serves at least three indispensable functions for the apprentice.

First, it is a place of encouragement and support.

During my own “dark night,” when my personal faith felt brittle and thin, it was the sturdy, lived-out faith of others in my community that carried me.

They didn’t have all the answers, but they sat with me in my questions.

They shared their own stories of struggle and doubt, which assured me I wasn’t alone.

They prayed for me when I couldn’t pray for myself.

A healthy Christian community provides friends who can speak the hope of the gospel into our darkest moments, reminding us of the Master’s faithfulness when we can’t see it for ourselves.²¹

Second, the workshop is a place of challenge and refinement.

The old proverb says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

Being in close relationship with people who are different from us—people with different backgrounds, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses—inevitably creates friction.

This friction, while sometimes uncomfortable, is a primary tool the Master uses for our sanctification.

It exposes our pride, our impatience, our selfishness, and our hidden prejudices.

It forces us to learn the difficult craft of loving people who are not like us, of extending grace when we feel wronged, of developing empathy and compassion.

This kind of spiritual growth simply cannot happen in isolation; it requires the sanctifying abrasion of community life.²¹

Third, the workshop provides mentorship and example.

An apprentice learns by watching those who are further along the path.

In the church, we are surrounded by “journeymen” and more seasoned artisans of the faith—pastors, elders, and mature believers whose lives bear the marks of the Master’s handiwork.

This is the context for Paul’s command, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ“.³

He wasn’t setting himself up as the ultimate standard, but as a more experienced apprentice pointing the way to the Master.

We learn what faithful perseverance looks like by watching a 90-year-old saint who has walked with God through decades of joy and sorrow.

We learn what sacrificial love looks like by observing a couple who has navigated the challenges of marriage for fifty years.

We learn how to integrate faith and work by listening to a businessperson who strives for integrity in the marketplace.

The church is a gallery of living examples, apprentices at different stages, all learning the same craft.²¹

Looking back, I can see that one of the greatest barriers to my spiritual growth was the pervasive influence of modern Western individualism.

This cultural script had subtly taught me to view church as a place for personal consumption—a place to go to hear a good sermon, enjoy uplifting music, and have my spiritual needs M.T. It was an auditorium, not a workshop.

The apprenticeship model demands a radical rejection of this consumer mindset.

It calls us to see the church not as a vendor of religious goods and services, but as the communal, participatory, and sometimes messy workshop where we are all active apprentices, working together under the guidance of one Master to learn the craft of a Christ-like life.

Part III: Learning the Craft — The True Purpose of Spiritual Disciplines

In my old mimicry model, spiritual disciplines were a source of constant anxiety.

Bible reading, prayer, and fasting were items on a spiritual checklist, duties I performed to prove my sincerity to God and, if I’m honest, to myself.

A “good” week was one where I checked all the boxes; a “bad” week was one where I failed, leading to another round of guilt and resolve to “do better.” The apprenticeship paradigm completely transformed my understanding of these practices.

They were no longer a list of rules to follow, but a set of tools in the workshop.

They were the practical, hands-on exercises the apprentice uses to learn the Master’s craft, to train the heart and mind, and to internalize His way of being.

The Apostle Paul frequently uses the metaphor of athletic training to describe this intentional effort in the Christian life.²⁷

This analogy is incredibly helpful because it captures both the grace and the grit of spiritual formation.

An athlete does not compete to

earn their place on the team; they are already on the team.

But once on the team, they must engage in rigorous training to compete well and win the prize.

Paul exhorts Timothy, “train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7).

The Greek word for “train” is gymnazō, from which we get “gymnasium.” It conjures an image of stripping away every hindrance and engaging in strenuous, focused exercise.²⁸

This is not a passive process.

We are called to “press on” toward the goal (Philippians 3:12) and “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1), toiling with purpose.²⁸

This requires immense self-control, as Paul notes, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

Just as an athlete carefully manages their diet and lifestyle, the apprentice of Jesus must be disciplined about what they allow to enter their minds and hearts.²⁸

This athletic, apprentice-like posture reframes the purpose of the classical spiritual disciplines:

• Scripture Study (Reading the Blueprints): For the mimic, the Bible is a rulebook. For the apprentice, it is the Master’s workshop manual, filled with blueprints and design principles. We read not just to acquire information, but to be formed by the story. We study the life of Jesus in the Gospels to understand the character and “style” of our Master.¹⁴ We immerse ourselves in the whole counsel of God to have our minds renewed and our worldview reshaped according to His design.³⁰ Practices like
  Lectio Divina (divine reading) become less about academic study and more about a slow, contemplative engagement with the text, listening for the Master’s voice in His Word.³²
• Prayer (Conversing with the Master): The mimic’s prayer is often a formal report or a list of demands. The apprentice’s prayer is a constant, running conversation with the Master in the workshop. It’s asking for guidance on a difficult task (“Master, how should I handle this situation?”). It’s listening for His quiet instruction. It’s expressing gratitude for His provision and admitting our frustrations and failures. It is the primary means by which we cultivate the relational intimacy that is the very foundation of apprenticeship.²⁹
• Fasting, Solitude, and Silence (Clearing the Workspace): In a legalistic framework, these disciplines can become tools for self-punishment or pious display. For the apprentice, they are practical ways of clearing the clutter from the workshop. In a world saturated with noise and distraction, fasting from food, media, or other comforts creates space. Solitude and silence quiet the clamor of other voices so that we can better hear the one voice that matters most—the Master’s. They are not about earning God’s attention, but about giving Him our undivided attention.³⁴
• Service and Love (Practicing the Craft): This is where the rubber meets the road. The workshop is not an end in itself; it exists to produce beautiful work. Every act of service, every extension of forgiveness, every pursuit of justice and mercy is an apprentice’s attempt to practice the craft. We try our hand at creating something that bears the Master’s signature—a moment of unconditional, agape love, a deed of humble servanthood.¹⁴ We will often be clumsy. Our work will be imperfect. But the Master is patient, and it is in the trying that we learn.

Ultimately, the power of a spiritual discipline is determined not by the external activity itself, but by the internal posture of the heart.

The Pharisees were experts in the activity of prayer, fasting, and tithing, yet Jesus condemned them for their prideful, performance-oriented hearts.⁵

Their “why” was self-glorification.³⁷

The apprentice’s “why” is to know, love, and become like the Master.¹⁶

Therefore, the great challenge is not simply

to do the disciplines, but to continually bring our hearts before God and ask, “Am I doing this to impress the Master and others in the workshop, or am I doing this simply to be with the Master and learn His ways?” That question separates the path of the legalist from the path of the apprentice.

Part IV: The Power Behind the Craft — Total Dependence on the Holy Spirit

Here we arrive at the core truth that shatters the mimicry model and powers the apprenticeship paradigm: the work is impossible in our own strength.

An apprentice luthier could stare at the master for a lifetime, but without the master’s guiding hand on his, his own efforts would only produce firewood.

The Christian life is not just difficult; it is, as Adrian Rogers famously said, impossible without the Holy Spirit.³⁸

This was the fundamental error of my WWJD-bracelet days: I was trying to produce the life of Christ through the strength of my own will.

I was trying to be the power source.

This brings us to the crucial distinction between legalism and grace.

Legalism is any attempt to live the Christian life in the power of the flesh, reducing faith to a set of rules we keep to gain God’s approval or maintain our standing with Him.³⁹

It is a performance-based system that inevitably leads to one of two outcomes: pride in our perceived success or despair in our obvious failure.

It is a life of bondage, guilt, and spiritual burnout.³⁹

It was the very air I was breathing.

True grace, on the other hand, is not just the pardon we receive at salvation; it is the power we live by every day thereafter.⁴⁰

Grace is the ongoing, empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to desire and to do what pleases God.

Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received “power from on high” because He knew the mission was too big for them to accomplish on their own.⁴³

That power, the Holy Spirit, is the engine of the Christian life.

In the context of our apprenticeship, the Holy Spirit plays a role that is both mysterious and intensely practical.

• The Indwelling Master: The Christian apprenticeship is unlike any other because the Master does not merely stand beside us; through the Holy Spirit, He takes up residence within us.³³ This is the stunning reality of Paul’s declaration, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).⁴⁴ It is the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).⁴⁵ Our workshop is not just an external place; it is the inner sanctuary of our own hearts, where the Master Himself dwells.
• The Source of Transformation: The Holy Spirit is the active agent of our change. We cannot transform ourselves. It is the Spirit who convicts us of sin, who guides us into truth, who illuminates the Scriptures, and who empowers us for obedience.³⁸ He is the one who cultivates the “fruit” of Christ-like character in our lives—love, joy, peace, patience, and so on (Galatians 5:22-23).⁴⁶ Our job, as apprentices, is not to strain and struggle to produce this fruit ourselves. Our job is to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25), which means learning to stay connected to the vine, our Master, Jesus (John 15).
• From Striving to Surrender: This leads to a fundamental shift in our daily practice. The life of the mimic is characterized by striving and “trying harder.” The life of the apprentice is characterized by yielding and surrender. It is a conscious, moment-by-moment choice to relinquish our own strength, our own wisdom, and our own will, and to depend entirely on the Master’s power at work within us.³³ It is praying, “Lord, I can’t do this, but you can. Live your life through me today.”

This understanding of active, participatory reliance resolves one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life, found in Philippians 2:12-13: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”.⁴⁷

The legalist hears only “work out your salvation” and falls into striving.

The quietist or antinomian hears only “it is God who works in you” and falls into passivity.

The apprentice understands the beautiful synergy.

We are actively working—we pick up the tools of the disciplines, we engage in the craft of love and service.

But we do so with the constant, humble recognition that it is the Master’s energy, the Master’s skill, and the Master’s Spirit who is accomplishing anything of worth

in and through us.

Our “working out” is simply our cooperation with His “working in.” This is the very heart of a grace-empowered life, the secret power behind the craft.

Part V: The Emerging Masterpiece — Finding Joy in the Slow Work of Sanctification

The ultimate goal of an apprenticeship is not for the student to remain a perpetual apprentice.

The goal is for them to become a master craftsman in their own right, someone who has so internalized the principles and spirit of the master that they can now create beautiful, unique works that bear the unmistakable signature of their training.

In the Christian life, this process of becoming is called sanctification: the lifelong journey of being conformed to the image of Christ so that we can live lives of love that glorify God and bless the world.⁴⁸

The Bible offers another powerful craft-based analogy for this process: God as the Master Potter and we as the clay.⁵⁰

Isaiah cries out, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

This image beautifully captures God’s sovereign, intentional, and intimate work in our lives.

He is not a distant observer but a hands-on artisan, shaping and molding us according to His perfect design.⁵⁰

This perspective brings a few crucial realities into focus.

First, sanctification is often a slow and sometimes painful process.

A potter does not simply tap the clay into shape; there is pressure, pushing, and pulling.

There is the spinning of the wheel, which can be disorienting.

And ultimately, there is the fire of the kiln, which makes the vessel strong and fit for use.

In the same way, God often uses the pressures and trials of life to shape our character.⁵²

As the Apostle Paul writes, we know that “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).⁴⁷

The painful moments are often the times when the Potter’s hands are most intensely at work.

Second, this process brings a growing awareness of our own imperfections.

Paradoxically, the closer a piece of clay gets to the potter’s perfect vision, the more any remaining lump or imperfection stands O.T. In the same way, the longer we are in the Master’s workshop and the more we are conformed to Christ, the more acutely aware we become of our own sin.⁵⁴

When Paul, late in his life, called himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15), it wasn’t false humility.

It was the clear vision of an apprentice who had spent so long gazing at the perfection of the Master that he could see his own flaws with painful clarity.

This growing awareness is not a sign that our apprenticeship is failing; it is evidence that it is working.

Our eyes are being healed.

This brings us to the emotional core of the apprentice’s life: joy.

This is not the fleeting, circumstantial emotion of happiness, which depends on whether the sun is shining or the clay is behaving.⁵⁵

Biblical joy is a deep, abiding confidence and delight rooted in the presence and purpose of God.

The apprentice’s joy is not found in a flawless performance or a pain-free process.

It is found in the simple, profound reality of being with the Master in His workshop.

We can, as James urges, “count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-3).⁵⁶

We can find joy in the struggle because we trust that the Master Potter is at work, creating something beautiful and eternal.⁵²

This is the very pattern set by our Master.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Himself endured the unimaginable agony of the cross “for the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2).⁵⁵

His joy was fixed on the outcome: the redemption of His people, the defeat of sin and death, and the glory of His Father.

As His apprentices, our joy is fueled by the same forward-looking hope.

We endure the slow, often difficult process of sanctification because we have tasted the joy of the Master’s presence now, and we look forward to the ultimate joy of being made perfectly like Him when we see Him face to face.¹⁸

This joy is the ultimate antidote to the frustration and hypocrisy of the mimicry model.

It is not our willpower that sustains us; it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).⁵⁵

Conclusion: From a Bracelet on the Wrist to a Signature on the Heart

I no longer wear the WWJD bracelet.

Years ago, I took it off and put it away in a drawer.

This wasn’t an act of rebellion or a rejection of the desire to be like Jesus.

It was a quiet acknowledgment of my graduation—a graduation from the frustrating, dead-end school of mimicry into the life-giving, grace-filled workshop of apprenticeship.

The question that once haunted me, “What Would Jesus Do?”, has been replaced by a more hopeful, more relational prayer: “Master, what are you doing, and how can I join you?”

The journey I have tried to map in these pages is the story of that transformation.

It is a shift from a life of checklists to a life of relationship.

It is a movement from the crushing weight of self-reliant striving to the liberating power of Spirit-filled surrender.

It is the discovery that the goal is not to perfectly perform a series of external actions, but to be internally transformed by the presence of the living Christ.

This apprenticeship is not an easy path, but it is a joyful one.

It happens in the messy, beautiful, indispensable workshop of the Christian community, where we are sharpened, encouraged, and held accountable by fellow apprentices.

It is practiced through the intentional use of spiritual disciplines, not as duties to be checked off, but as the essential tools of our craft.

And it is powered entirely by grace, through our moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of the Master Himself.

If you, like me, have ever felt the ache of the hypocrite or the exhaustion of the performer, my hope is that this new paradigm offers a way forward.

I invite you to lay down the heavy burden of being a perfect mimic.

I invite you to step into the workshop, pick up the life-giving tools of an apprentice, and trust the Master Craftsman to complete the good work He has already begun in you.⁵⁸

The goal was never to simply wear Christ’s initials on a bracelet.

The glorious, lifelong purpose of our apprenticeship is to have His very character, His loving signature, inscribed upon our hearts by the power of His Spirit.

Works cited

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