You Are A Masterpiece

Here is another Facebook status I wanted to save here on my blog:

We are God’s artwork, masterpieces that move with the Craftsman’s guidance, and, yet, we are artwork that is itself commissioned by the Artist to be a part of our own making. Any artist who has worked with clay, as well as other mediums known to fail well within the process, will know the patience it takes to learn the art. They will know the frustration of simply working with faulty materials. They will know the frustration that either drives aspiring artists to quit, or inspires the artist to start again, knowing that art does not always cooperate and, in this, provides opportunity for the artist to mature in his or her expectations. 

As a medium for God’s creativity, we certainly prove to be a frustrating sort. We are not our own, but often, as the gentle Craftsman moves, we resist and crumble. Because God gives license to His art to continue the path of becoming, we often can frustrate the great Craftsmen in denying our basic purposes for becoming better and being shaped in the goodness of His likeness. We move in the wrong directions and we fail. Yet, He continues to invite us in the process, and while He has goodness and Christ-likeness in mind for each of us, we need not think that we must hit a target perfectly to please the Artist. He gives creative license within the bounds of His limitless life and opportunities. In Him there is freedom to be fully human and we still know not the potential this freedom given from our Creator provides. 

We must be His whatever we are, for we are created to be His, but in being His, we are explorers of faith, forgers of mission, and disciples called to express so many things of God that a lifetime of molding will not make us what we are eternally meant to be. And, just to demonstrate the freedom of becoming, no matter how many countless lives are shaped towards the Image of God, no two persons will end up as the exact same piece of art. There will be shared similarities for sure, but as finite beings, we each have a chance to show various aspects of the limitless God as He sees fit. 

Even after death and glorification, while we will be perfectly good, we will not be perfectly static. We will continue in the process of becoming as we live an eternity of knowing God more and more at every turn. God takes His art seriously, and, yet, He gives us, as the artwork, chances to make mistakes, to find beauty by stumbling into it, and opportunities to start fresh. In the end, the process can be seen as a burden or as an invitation into a journey of grace and self-discovery, as we find ways to incorporate the life of God more into our being by faith and grace alone. What an opportunity!