In a renowned museum in Florence, Italy, you will find four renowned sculptures. Originally Michelangelo decided that they would be used on the tomb of Pope Julius, but midway through the project he decided not to use them. Today, anyone traveling to Florence can see the results – a hand protrudes here, a torso protrudes there, a leg, a part of a head, and none of them are finished. If you stand in this great hall you will sense the turmoil, the struggle involved in these great stones. It is as though the figures are crying to break free from the blocks of marble to become what they were intended to be. Michelangelo called these figures “Captives.” Study them for a time and they are certain to stir up within you the view of a deep longing for the stones to be what they could be. They may stir awareness in your own soul and an ache to break free from anything that is holding you down and preventing the realization of your own potential.

All of us as humans share a universal longing to be complete, to enjoy the fulfillment of realizing our God-given destiny. Like the Michelangelo statues, “Captives,” we are often frozen in our efforts to realize who we were meant to be. We never learn the secrets of chipping away at what holds us back; we never discover the parts of us that are still in captivity. The result is we suffocate our calling and remain in the jail cell of our own calling of unfinished work. Every day we are either moving closer to the person God called us to be or we are moving away from the person that God called us to be. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (NKJV).