A Beautiful Masterpiece

In the beginning, God created...

That's how the Bible starts.

With God creating out of nothing.

Creativity, artistry, imagination.

Passion.

He created the heavens and earth, every plant, and all living creatures.

Then after placing the final touches in our blue and green nursery, He created us.

In His image.

"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God
he created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

Nothing else in all creation bears His image. Only us. God didn't have to create us. He wanted to.

So He could love us. Shine His goodness into the darkness. And spend eternity with us.

What a wonderful way to start the greatest love story every told.

I thought about God's amazing creativity as I attended a function to support the regional arts council on Saturday night. The task? Painting. Looking upon the blank canvas that stood before imperfect me, I realized the challenge lay in capturing the perfect beauty of God's creation.

And I fell woefully short. I messed up. Tried to find an eraser. Cover up the ugly with more paint. All I could see were the mistakes.

But where we see our flaws, others see His beauty in unexpected places.

God's creative beauty touches the core of our being. Beholding His majestic mountain peaks and His vivid sunsets causes our knees to tremble. We feel small. In awe of what He created.

In awe of Him.

Ann Voskamp put it this way yesterday: "In the beginning our God spoke beauty, because He is beauty, and the God of the Bible is an artist."

And God the Artist created YOU.

His stunning masterpiece began with a blank canvas and a specific plan. He carefully chose and blended your gifts, talents, passions, and DNA.

And signed His name on your heart.

There is no one like you. Period. From the beginning of time until the end, God's masterpieces are individually and wholly unique.

You are His unique, artistic expression. 

Ann went on to say: "What you must never forget is that you are His art. Touch your face right now and feel what you really are, what His Son whispers, 'My masterpiece worth dying for, my beauty worth redeeming.'”

Perhaps you don't feel like a masterpiece. Maybe you feel like a waste of space. Or a canvas ready for the recycle bin. That God needs to start over.

But how can God improve on His masterpiece? God doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't paint junk.

In the beginning, God created...

YOU.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13, 16

He formed YOU. Not as an afterthought, but as the center of His creation. Treasured beyond measure.

Bought with the paint of His Son's blood, He thought about each brushstroke of you.

And above all else today, I pray you grasp this stunning truth:

You are His beautiful masterpiece.

Doesn't that change how you see yourself in the mirror?
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