I AM: A Masterpiece Week Five - Day Four
SHARE THIS BLOG
Imagine yourself standing in front of that masterpiece that you thought of on Day One—the Grand Canyon or the Starry Night painting. Admire the grandeur, the creativity, the loveliness you see in the work of art.
Now picture yourself seated at the feet of Jesus. Let’s take in this thought for a moment: God, because of His great love for us through His mercy, made us alive with Christ. Through Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, we have been made alive with Christ.
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:6-9
Do you see the promise God made? God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in heaven so that He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us.
Friends, the Master Artist loves you so immensely that He wants to spend eternity with you.
Sometimes believing the promise is easy until our lives become challenging. Then we question the methods and tools used by the artist. I ran across this quote from Joni Eareckson Tada. She developed quadriplegia after a diving accident that left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. In her book A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty, she said, “(God) has a plan and purpose for my time on earth. He is the Master Artist or Sculptor, and He is the one who chooses the tools He will use to perfect His workmanship. What of suffering, then? What of illness? What of disability? Am I to tell Him which tools He can use and which tools He can’t use in the lifelong task of perfecting me and molding me into the beautiful image of Jesus? Do I really know better than Him, so that I can state without equivocation that it’s always His will to heal me of every physical affliction? If I am His poem, do I have the right to say, ‘No, Lord. You need to trim line number two and brighten up lines three and five. They’re just a little bit dark.’ Do I, the poem, the thing being written, know more than the poet?"
Her words strike me at a deep place in my heart. I have not endured anything like Joni Eareckson Tada, and yet so often I try to take the paint brush out of the Master’s hand and paint the picture myself. I want the painting of my life to look a certain way. This is where, with a humble heart, I must step back and acknowledge that God is God and I am not. HE is the Master Artist, and I am His masterpiece. HE created me to be a new creation. HE created good things for me to do. HE is the one writing the poem of my life. And HE did all those things to bring HIM glory and honor and show others the way to be reconciled to God. It’s time for me to lay the paintbrush down at the foot of the cross.
Reflect
When do you tend to want to take the paintbrush and do it your way?
How can you hold on to God’s promises even when this world may be dark, and the journey may be difficult?
Lord, we humbly acknowledge that You are God, the Master Artist. We ask You to fill us with the knowledge of Your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that we may live a life worthy of You and please You in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of You. Strengthen us with all power according to Your glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience, and give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of Your holy people in the kingdom of light. Thank You for rescuing us from our sin, bringing us into the kingdom of the Son, and giving us forgiveness through Your grace. (Colossians 1:9-14)