God turns our natural into super
Have you ever heard the word “Masterpiece?”
Do you know what it means? If you aren’t quite sure, let’s make this our working definition for today:
It’s what someone considers to be their supreme achievement.
Think of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Think of Mount Rushmore by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
Think of the movie “Titanic” from James Cameron.
Think of “Ice, Ice Baby” from Vanilla Ice.
Agree or not, you get the picture.
But here’s one we forget all the time …
You are God’s masterpiece.
Whether we believe that or not, the Bible says it’s true. Let’s take a look at Ephesians 2:10:
“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.”
You, friends, are God’s work of art. The same God who created the stars, the galaxies, the sun, the moon, the Grand Canyon, the oceans and ice cream, believes YOU are his supreme achievement.
I can tell some of you aren’t convinced.
“C’mon, Tim. I look in the mirror when I get up every morning. That ain’t no masterpiece staring back at me.”
Fair enough.
So let me ask a few questions:
•What made you pick your eye color?
•What made you pick the day you were born?
•What made you pick how tall you are?
•What made you pick your family?
You didn’t. God did. And he made you EXACTLY the way he wanted to make you.
But sometimes it’s hard to trust God’s plan for our future when we’re feeling like junk in the present. Here’s a little video that might give us some perspective on that. Please take a moment to watch.
Here’s our takeaway: A great artist can take everyday, ordinary items and create something beautiful.
But God takes it to an even higher level. God loves to turn broken pieces into masterpieces. He’s loves to take what we might consider “junk” and turn it into something SPECTACULAR.
Lean in and I’ll share a little secret: The reason you’re still reading this is because you realize how broken you really are by the world’s standards. I am, too.
The person you saw in the mirror this morning? God can work with that. Broken people are everywhere.
Finish this sentence: I’m not _____________ enough.
What did you say?
Pretty.
Handsome.
Strong.
Thin.
Cool.
Smart.
Wealthy.
The world around us ALWAYS points to our natural state, what’s on the outside, what other people can see.
And they’re right. As broken people, we’ll never measure up on the outside. When we focus on the natural, we’ll always be disappointed.
But remember a bit earlier when we said God loves to work with the broken? He does, but he doesn’t waste time fixing broken things.
Instead, he loves to make things NEW. He loves to turn natural human beings into supernatural beings.
In other words, what you see isn’t what you get. Not at all.
When God makes something new, it’s an INSIDE JOB. So the person you see in the mirror may look the same, but you’ve been totally made NEW.
Here’s another key truth: The natural is what we see. The super can only be experienced.
Consider the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
and Self-Control
Can others see those things when they look at us? No, they can’t.
Can YOU even see those things in a mirror? No, you can’t.
That’s part of the super that God places inside of us when we trusted Jesus as our Savior. Those qualities are meant to be EXPERIENCED by those we come in contact with each day.
And if WE want to experience those qualities ourselves, we need to express them.
But if we’re constantly focused on fixing the outside, we’ll choose to do nothing. We’ll remain afraid. We won’t feel like we measure up. If we choose to do nothing, then God will do nothing through us. And we’ll continue to feel like nothing.
Do you REALLY want to come alive? Do you REALLY want to experience the Fruit of the Spirit? Then we just need to express it.
During Lent, my nuclear family and my extended family began having a virtual Bible study. We went through a few different plans, and the latest was called, “The Hands and Feet of Christ.”
So let me ask you a question: Do you think you can be the hands and feet of Christ if you don’t have hands and feet?
Let’s watch another brief video for our answer:
So what did you SEE in the video? A man with no hands and no feet.
But what did you EXPERIENCE as you watched? I felt it, too. There’s no doubt God is working through Nick Vujicic.
I love his quote near the end: “If God can use a man without arms and legs to be His hands and feet, then who can God NOT use?”
You know he’s talking to you. He’s looking at me, too.
OK, so let’s go back to our sentence from earlier: I’m not _____________ enough.
Believe me, I’ve tried and tried to fix a lot of those things, but it’s not enough. It will never be enough. The truth is, we were never meant to be fixed.
Instead, God desires to make us NEW. But don’t take my word for it. Look it up and see for yourself.
You’ve been given a new heart. — Ezekiel 36:26
You’ve been made into a new creation. — 2 Corinthians 5:17
You will be given new desires. — Psalm 37:4
Before we go on our way, let’s look at one more passage together. It’s from the apostle Paul and it appears in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Paul suffered from an undisclosed “thorn in the flesh,” and he continually asked God to take it away. And here’s what God told him.
“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Christ’s power is made perfect in our weakness. When we are weak, he is strong through us.
So Paul finally stopped asking God to repair his broken outside. Instead, he began to thank God for making him new on the inside.
When you really think about it, God can take all of our broken pieces and create a beautiful mosaic.
So maybe we should change the question we ask when we get up tomorrow morning and look in the mirror.
Let’s stop asking, “What will people see when they look at us?”
Instead, let’s start asking, “What will the world experience through us?”
God loves to take broken pieces and make them his masterpieces.
But it can happen in only two ways:
From the inside out.
And if we trust him enough to do it.
(Tim Kolodziej is the author of this piece and founder of EnspireU.com. When he’s not behind a laptop, he can be found inside a gym helping young athletes create their own unique future — one rep at a time. Click here to connect with him by email.)