The Blacksmith

By Joel Settecase / January 4, 2022

Here’s a short lesson for you to share with your kids. It’s based on the TrailLifeUSA worldview principle,

"Out of all of God's creation, human beings are uniquely made in His image and likeness, and therefore all human life, from conception through natural death has unquestionable value, worth, and dignity."

For more content to teach your kids a biblical outlook on life, check out all the “Chaplain Corner” episodes on the ThinkPod.

Have you ever been to a blacksmith's shop? Actually, most people haven't. 

A blacksmith works at shaping and making things out of iron, like horseshoes and swords. 

If you could watch a blacksmith as he was making a sword, you'd see him leaning over his big, metal anvil, holding the blade with his tongs and hammering it as sparks fly. 

Creating a good sword is not a simple process. It takes care, and control.. 

You know, this reminds me of how God made man, recorded in Genesis 1.

Picture this: it's day six of creation. God has finished creating the animals, and He says, "'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness'... So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female" (Ge 1:26–27).

How'd he form them? Genesis 2 says, "...the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils... [then] the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman..." (Ge 2:7, 21–22). 

Wow. Like a master blacksmith forging a sword from raw iron, God forms the man from the earth, and the woman from the man's side, creating both "in His image"—they reflected God's glory.

This means every human life, from the time he or she begins in the mother's womb, to the time of natural death, is priceless and important. No human life should never be wrongly taken (killed).

Being in God's image means we can know God, but we can also sin by disobeying God. And because God is the maker of life, sin brings death (Ro 6:23).

All humans have sinned and deserve death in Hell, but God sent His Son Jesus to lay down His life, so that all who believe in Him would not die forever but live forever with Him (Jn 3:16)! And although our sin left us broken, God repairs us, re-making us in the image of Jesus (Ro 8:29).

God cares about us, more than a blacksmith cares for a sword. He wants us to treat one another as valuable people, formed by God Himself, and to trust Him as he keeps forming us into the image of His Son Jesus.