I was going through a gallery with an artist friend of mine, which he shows in, and the gallery owner pulled him into a room to show him some paintings that had come in for an upcoming auction. I quickly followed the gallery owner and my friend into the room. I was glad I did. The room was full of masterpieces. The gallery owner began to describe each piece to us and told us the price that each was expected to bring at auction. Most of the pieces were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range, one piece was expected to bring over a million dollars. As an artist I was thrilled and in awe to be standing within a few feet of so many masterpieces.
I get that same feeling when I stand in front of a crowd and speak, because you are a masterpiece. You may not feel like it, you may feel like you are a mistake or an accident. Perhaps you have been told that you were not good, ugly, would never amount to anything, and simply don’t believe that you could be considered a masterpiece. Yet the truth is you are. How do I know? Because God says so: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph 2:10 NLT)
Go back to the beginning: “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27 NLT) You are created in God’s image. So what happened? Why doesn’t your life look like a masterpiece in the image of God? Jesus himself said that His purpose “is to give (you) a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10 NLT) That sounds like masterpiece living!
Two Key Elements To Understand
- The first thing you need to understand is that in the first part of John 10:10 Jesus told us that we have an enemy, who wants to kill, steal, and destroy our lives as His masterpiece: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10 NLT) That’s not the good news, but important to realize that while God’s plan is for you to live a rich and satisfying life as His masterpiece, there is an enemy who is working to stop you.
- The second thing you need to understand is that you have a part. God is the artist of your life, yet He has given you a part in that you give Him the palette to work with: your Life Palette. You get to decide your attitude, your values, your choices. You choose whether or not you will live by the guidelines to living as a masterpiece that God has given you in His Word – the Bible. All of these will either limit how God can paint the canvas of your life as a masterpiece or empower Him.
Get A New Perspective
As you read this you may realize that you are living way below your privilege of masterpiece living. Make the decision right now that you are going to begin right now to live daily as the masterpiece God created you to be from this moment on. To be successful as you go forward you have to get a new perspective – God’s perspective – of yourself. You are a masterpiece!
Let me help you to see this new perspective. You can always recognize a masterpiece by what someone is willing to pay for it (The reason for the value of the paintings in that small room in the gallery). So what is someone willing to pay for you? God paid a tremendous price for you because of His love for you as His masterpiece: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Rom 5:8 NLT) Get this perspective: you are worth the cross of Christ. God made a masterpiece…and it’s you! Make it personal: “God made a masterpiece…and it’s me!”
Next Steps:
Think about the tension that thinking about yourself as a masterpiece creates in your heart and mind – does it go against what you have been told or believe? Prayerfully ask God to help you see yourself as the way He sees you – a masterpiece. Ask Him to help you have a new way of thinking, to replace your thoughts, to upgrade them to His thoughts. Put Eph 2:10 to memory, speak it and pray it throughout the day.
