Rev 1

A commonly used practice in manufacturing is revision.  All parts are manufactured from drawings that illustrate the part’s design and function.  When it is necessary to change a part, which happens frequently, the Revision process is initiated.  It is very important that the Revision process be followed precisely.  Deviating from the standard Revision process results in costly error and lost time.  

Here is an example of a common Revision process:

When an existing part needs to be changed, the current version of the part drawing is redlined (marked up).  This is generally done by an engineer.  The redline is then reviewed by a more qualified person (more experienced engineer) who signs off on the changes and sends it on to the drafting department.  This is where a draft drawing is created which includes the original part design with the redline changes incorporated.  That drawing goes back for review to the engineer.  Once accuracy is confirmed, the engineer will sign off on the draft drawing and send it back to the drafters for creation of a new drawing.  This new drawing will be formatted similar to the original drawing, but the part will be changed and marked with a “REV” in the title block.  The Revision process is a thoroughly involved process, initiated and followed to ensure that the resulting part is useful for the desired purpose.    

Spiritual Perspective:

You are designed for a purpose.  Your creation was not an accident and your existence on this earth is intended to result in something.  However, your intended purpose was not established by you. Nor is the desired result of your life accomplishable in your own power.  There is an Engineer behind all this, and He has a reason to do what is done.  He has a reason to create you.  

Now, the Christian life must be walked out.  In other words, we are saved at once by recognizing and proclaiming the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives, but transformation of the Christian is a “day by day” process.  With each “renewal of the mind” (Romans 12:2),  each act of obedience, each new level of grace experienced, we have a new level of transformation, changing the old person into a new transformed version. To be clear, I understand, just as Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5, once we are in Christ Jesus we are a “new creation”.  The old passes away and the new has come.  But just as that Revised part has an original design, so do we, in our human form, have an original version.  That version, born into sin, is not adequate to accomplish the desired function intended by the Great Engineer.  A change is necessary.  

(Bare with me on my manufacturing analogy.)  

So Jesus redlines - literally with His blood - He redlines our spirit, outlining the necessary change of heart, the spiritual transformation required to make the creation everything He desires for him or her.  He sends His redlined creation on to the Father who approves the changes (because everything that Jesus does is perfect).  Then the Father continues the transformation process by initiating the work of the Great Drafter, the Holy Spirit, who works the desired changes into the Christian’s life.  The end result, is a child of God, holy and acceptable in God’s eyes AND a transformed Christian, working in unison with the Holy Spirit to bring glory to God just as Jesus Christ has intended.   

You are indeed the handiwork of God Almighty.