Masterpiece

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:4-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Masterpiece

I have read that a sculptor can see the finished product in an untouched block of stone. The artist can see the finished product long before the first hammering of the chisel. When I consider what God has already done in my life, I marvel at what I will be like when He completes His work.

Before I was even born, He knew every detail of my life and how it would come out. Like the sculptor working with stone, He knew my flaws and how to approach them with His divine touch. He has worked on me, forming me, shaping me, refining me into His masterpiece.

We are but blocks of living stone, having no redeeming value in ourselves, and having no allure. We are nothing until the Lord, the Great Master stone carver, begins His work on us. In the process, we see the mercy of God with every blow of the hammer, as no swing is wasted and all lead to refinement. Trials are the hammer blows of God, as He brings beauty from coarse stone.

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”
‭‭I Peter‬ ‭1:6-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In our untouched state, we are all different, disparate, as we come from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We do not fit together, and clash when placed in proximity. But God, sculpts, and knocks away the rough edges and jagged areas, making us one, fitted together, as we are all the worksmanship of the same artist, with a eye toward our common outcome.

We are made one in Christ, all having come to God through the blood of Jesus, saved from sin by His death on the cross, His burial, and raised with Him in resurrection. We come from all strata, and are brought to true equity at the cross, for our wealth is only in Jesus. All the walls that divide have been broken down.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:26-28‬ NKJV

We are masterpieces created for good works, not as precious things to decorate the pews of the local church. We are designed and crafted for a purpose. We are to go out and glorify the Lord as we minister to the saved and the lost. We are looking for other stones for the Master Sculptor, as He creates more and more masterpieces, from rough, jagged rocks discarded and forgotten.

Sculpting can be painful, as the chisel chips away the things we have held dear, but have brought us great pain. If you are one under the chisel of God, know that He is creating a masterpiece with will be cherished and bring God glory. If you can’t trust the hand that weilds the chisel, know that tht you can trust the heart that is behind it.

His ultimate goal is to make us in the image of His Son, reclaiming the creation marred by the sin of Adam, once created in the image of God.

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https://www.allaboutgod.com/the-roman-road.htm