You Are God's Masterpiece

     In Ephesians 2:10 it says, "We are God's Workmanship (or Word of Art; some Good translations say "Masterpiece") created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He prepared beforehand." That word in the Greek for "workmanship" is "poeima." It is the where we get our English word poem. In Greek culture poetry and philosophy were the highest forms of art. Literally the Greek Word is translated many times as "Masterpiece." You are God's Work of Art.

You are His artwork and made in His image! (Genesis 1:27).  Malcolm Smith (Bishop of Zoe Community of The Holy Spirit) used to say on his radio program, “You are who you are by the artist who put you together.” He would go on to say that, “What makes a famous painting, sculpture, or piece of art valuable is the signature of the artist.” If someone found a lost painting from Leonardo Da Vinci it would be worth millions! Why? It is because he is a world renowned artist. The painting would be valuable based on the greatness of the artist and the quality, the beauty of the art work. The Mona Lisa is valuable, the statue of David is valuable, and the Sistine Chapel is valuable. And get this, you are valuable. You’ve heard the slogan, “God don’t make no junk.” Well it’s true and you are valuable to Him!! You have dignity and great worth because you are God’s artwork, made in His image. We may have tried to damage the art through sin but we are still valuable. I could take a Da Vinci painting stow it away in a warehouse and it could collect dust. Just because it gets covered with dust and dirt, that does not devalue the art. Our sin may taint us but we still have value because we are made in God’s image.

 

We are His artwork and His masterpiece. As humans we are both sinners and God’s artwork. We have, not only depravity (great sinfulness), but great dignity! We have worth! We are so valuable to God that He thought we were worth the shedding of Jesus’ blood, so that He could redeem us. It is true that we have all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We have broken His commandments and need His forgiveness. We need to run to God and ask for His mercy. But when we do we find that He embraces us and freely gives us mercy for our unrighteousness and forgiveness for our sins.

Let me put this another way. A preacher once gave a brilliant illustration on this topic. He had a $100 bill. He announced, “If I were to give this to someone as a free gift would anyone like to take it?” Immediately all hands in the room went up. He then proceeded to wad it up and wrinkle it. He asked, “Now it’s all wadded up, does anyone still want it?” Again everyone raised their hands, eager to get a $100 bill. He then threw it on the ground and stomped on it and again he asked, “Do you still want it even though I stomped on it and it’s all dirty?” And again everyone raised their hand. He then proceeded to explain. We are like this $100 bill. We are valuable. Even though we sin, make terrible mistakes, blow it, and trash our lives; we ‘get wadded up, stomped on, and messy, so to speak, like this bill’, God still wants us and loves us because we are still valuable to Him. Just like the wadding up, and stomping didn’t decrease that bill (you guys knew you could still spend it and it was worth a lot to you), we still have great worth despite sin’s damage.” We are valuable to God, we are His masterpiece of artwork, we are worth a lot to God. We are made in His image and this is a great honor.

Now I am not compromising on sin. God hates sin and yet, He still is love (“God is love” 1 John 4:8). He is Love and He is Holy. A very grace focused Christian who always spoke of God’s love, mercy, grace, and compassion had this to say, “I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an AWESOME, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery. ” ― Brennan Manning.  And we want that, we, if we really search our hearts, want a perfectly just God. That gives us security to know He will never do evil. God is tender, merciful, gracious, compassionate, and affectionate!! But He is also Holy and Just; however, even though He hates sin He LOVES sinners. The saying is true, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.” On the other side He cares deeply and passionately about us. One ancient Christian writer said “I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.” ― Madeleine L'Engle     

     SO I DARE YOU!!!! Today go look in the mirror, look at yourself, and say, "You are God's Masterpiece, God's Work of Art."...........Until Next Time. Steve J