~~ Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) ~~ From the Life Application Bible ~~ We are God’s masterpiece (work of art, workmanship). Our salvation is something only God can do. It is his powerful, creative work in us. If God considers us his masterpieces, we dare not treat ourselves or others with disrespect or as inferior work.
by Carley Cooper
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| Painting by my Grandmother, Laura H. Mercer (Painted in her 80's shortly after she first started painting with no education or previous experience) Title unknown Photo by Carley |
Are you a creative person? Maybe you do some sort of art work; painting, sculpting, pottery. Perhaps your talent lies in music; and you are a musician or a singer. Then again, you might be a designer; of clothes, houses, gardens, cars, teddy bears, or graphics. Possibly you are a writer, or an architect. Even if you are none of these, or you feel that you have no creative talent, I think that everyone knows what it feels like to put your whole self into something you are doing. You work hard on a project. Every part of your being; mind, body, and soul goes into it. For me, when I am writing I can completely forget about the world and not even be aware of what is going on around me. There are other projects that I have worked on that kept me focused on one thing for weeks at a time. Often, I am even at the point where I forgot to eat because the only thing on my mind is this one mission.
How did you feel once you completed your vision, or accomplished a goal? It is an incredibly awesome feeling, isn’t it?! To know that I created a masterpiece brings a feeling that I can only describe as fulfilling. Its existence came about from something that started as just a thought in my brain. I find that to be a fascinating concept. A painting... did not exist, now it does. A book, or a song, or a building, or a dress; started simply as a notion in someone’s mind. Then it was developed into an idea, followed by a plan, and then the work to create it. It is enough to make one feel incredibly proud. You might even say you love it, since you put your whole heart into it. It is called ‘good workmanship’ or ‘taking pride in what you do’.
Now, imagine how you would feel after completing the biggest project of your life that took you days, weeks, or years of your time working on. You put all your blood, sweat and tears into this venture. Visualize that this project was something that would change the life of your family, city, or county for the better. Maybe you built a new house for your family with your own bare hands. Perhaps, you helped design a new building for low-rental housing in your own community. Possibly you wrote a hit song to raise a lot of money that will help benefit hungry people in your own country. Now, picture the person you love the most in this world... the person you would give your life, literally, to protect. Imagine this person showing up with a group of their friends and destroying your masterpiece, without a good reason for doing so. It does not even sound logical, does it? Why would someone you love, and who loves you, do that to you? The new house that you built was burned to the ground; or that new low-rent high-rise was levelled, or the only copies of that potential hit song have been erased. The only explanation you got from the person who did this was something like “I thought it would be fun”. How would you feel? It would be like a knife in your gut. Your life’s work; all the resources, energy, work and sweat that you put into this work of genius.... all for nothing. It would be devastating. Personally, I would feel angry and betrayed just to start with.
Well, guess what?! That is exactly what we are all doing to God’s masterpiece! He created this world to be the perfect place for us to live in harmony with Him. Then, before the planet was even populated, we walked in and wrecked the place! Almost immediately the laws that He put in place for it to operate properly were broken. We succumbed to temptation and willingly sinned. Not only that, but we continue to do it. We change God’s laws, as if we know what we are doing, to suit our own purposes; and have the gall to call them ‘good’ because ‘the times are changing’. Then, to top it all off we do things that are slowly and continually helping to destroy, not only the planet but our own bodies as well. Dangerous gases are allowed to flow into the atmosphere. All sorts of electronic waves are filling up the environment around us. Garbage and chemicals are being dumped into the earth. The worlds resources are being used without thoughts of replenishment, as if there will be no tomorrow. Governments and big business make laws based on profit; not on what is best for the people, the earth, or our future. We drop bombs on things and people just to prove which country is the ‘toughest kid on the block’. We continually pollute our minds with all sorts of filth, which is all around us. Our bodies are slowly dying, because we eat things that our body was not designed to consume. We over-process the life out of our food supply by filling it with medications, chemicals, preservatives, and hormones. We are killing ourselves and the earth.
Much of humanity does not realize it, but justice must be done. We broke God’s laws and damaged creation. By God’s very nature, He cannot be in the presence of sin. We are all sinful. He loves us and wants to be with us, so ths issue must be reconciled. We have to be made aware of the magnitude of the harm we have caused, and then be held accountable. In God’s court we are guilty of a lot of serious crimes. Not one of us can be found innocent. Romans 3:23 tells us that “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
However, all is not lost because there is hope! We are blessed because we do not have to worry about paying a big fine, or doing jail time. Our sentence has already been taken care of. We have a wonderful Friend who loves us so much that He was willing to take our place; pay our fines and do our jail time for us. His name is Jesus. Invite Him into your heart to be your saviour, and He will be your Friend too! He lived a perfect sinless life. Then He willingly went through a horrible death; taking our place upon the cross in the sentence that was ruled for us. But, Jesus conquered death and rose again. He is alive today. Without Jesus, you will have to pay your own fine and do your own jail time. Jesus is the only possible way out of this sentence (John 14:6 NIV84). He loves you so much, that even if you were the only one; He would have done this for you anyway! How awesome is that?! How could anyone not want Him as a friend? Even though we walked away from God and damaged His wonderful masterpiece He forgives us. That is because, He loves us and He can fix it.
~~ Dear God ~~ Your word says that You are the Potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8 NIV84). Please mold me, shape me, and make me into a masterpiece that You can be proud of. Please forgive me for all my many sins that contribute to the destruction of the world, my mind and my body. Please teach me how to live a healthy life so that I am not disrespecting You, myself, other people, or the earth. Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus; to pay the penalty for my crimes to You. Do not ever let a day go by in my life when I am not thankful for this incredible gift. In Jesus name, AMEN.
