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God’s Masterpiece
A New Beginning
Greg Laurie
I was getting a haircut
one day when the guy cutting my hair suddenly stopped and said, “Look at
that!”
I looked over my shoulder, and there was one
of the most stunning sunsets I had ever seen.
Several people got up out of their chairs and
walked outside to take a look. It was such an incredible sunset that people stood
there in awe.
Of course, it is a
reminder that “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows
His handiwork” (Psalm
19:1 nkjv).
God is a great artist; there is no question
about it.
But God’s greatest masterpiece isn’t some of
the sunsets you may have had the privilege of seeing, or the Alps (as
spectacular as they are), or the islands of Hawaii and Tahiti (as gorgeous and
beautiful as they can be).
God’s greatest masterpiece of creation is you.
And it is me. We are God’s greatest masterpieces.
In fact, we read in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (nkjv).
That word workmanship could be translated, “we are His
work of art.”
We are His poem. Or as another translation
puts it, we are God’s masterpiece.
Without question, man is God’s greatest creation.
Man is His crowning achievement.
The psalmist wrote of
this when he said, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and
knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully
complex! Your workmanship is marvelous — how well I know it” (Psalm 139:13–14 nlt).
If we look at Scripture, it would appear that
God has a plan for us, even before we are conceived.
In Jeremiah we read, “Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I
ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 nkjv).
God has His plan for a child, even before he
or she is conceived, not to mention afterward.
And according to Scripture, there is a unique
and custom-designed plan that God has in store just for those who have put
their trust in Jesus Christ.
God selected you and
chose you so “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7 nkjv).
That is what God wants to do for you.
If God were to reveal to you today how much He
loves you, it would overwhelm you. It would devastate you to think of the love
that He has for you in light of the way we all behave sometimes.
All He can give us at this point is the down
payment of the Holy Spirit, and that alone overwhelms us at times.
But in the ages to come, He is going to reveal
His kindness and goodness toward us.
As I pointed out earlier,
Ephesians says that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (2:10 nkjv).
In addition to “workmanship” speaking
of a poem or a work of art, it is a word that speaks of something that is
perfect. It carries the idea of rhythm, orderliness, and beauty.
When I look at my life, I don’t necessarily
see rhythm, orderliness, or beauty. And I can guarantee that I don’t see
perfection.
When we see ourselves, we tend to see our
flaws. We see so many things that need to change.
But God says, “You are
my work of art. You are my poem. You are my masterwork.”
God is not like a doting father who’s
oblivious to his child’s faults. Rather, He is your all-knowing, yet all-powerful
Father in heaven who can envision what you will be when it is all said and
done.
God can look at you and can see what you will
become before you have actually become it.
We look at ourselves and
say, “I don’t get it. This doesn’t look like a perfect person. This doesn’t
look like a work of beauty.”
But you are a work in progress. It is a
process that doesn’t happen overnight. It is going to take all of your life on
Earth. It won’t be completely finished until you get to heaven.
Then you will see that you indeed are a
perfect work of art — God’s masterpiece.
Greg Laurie pastors Harvest Christian Fellowship (one of America's
largest churches) in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine,
California. He has authored several books including the Gold Medallion Award
winner, The Upside Down Church, as well as Losers and Winners, Saints
and Sinners and The Best Is Yet to Come. You can find his study notes
in the New Believer’s Bible, The Seeker’s Bible, and the Start!
Bible.
Host of the television
program GregLaurie.tv and the nationally syndicated radio
program A New Beginning, Laurie is also the founder and featured speaker for
Harvest Crusades — contemporary, large-scale evangelistic outreaches, which
local churches organize nationally and internationally — and Harvest America,
which offers churches nationwide the opportunity to host a crusade event
simultaneously from their own local venues.
Whether speaking or writing,
God has gifted Pastor Greg Laurie with the ability to apply biblical principles
to current events in a way that is relevant and easily understood by people of
all ages, from all walks of life. The trademark of a Greg Laurie sermon, book,
or broadcast is his contemporary, yet straightforward style and format. He
resides in Southern California with his wife, Cathe.
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