Have you ever been in an art museum and paused for a while in front of an artistic masterpiece, taking in the immense talent of the one who created it and the message the artist was expressing? Have you ever stopped along a nature trail to take in the beauty and variety of plant and animal life God has created, or gazed for hours at the sky on a clear night with wonder and awe at the vastness of God’s masterpiece of creation? If you have, take a long look in a mirror and see another masterpiece of God’s creation.
Our physical body is an amazing masterpiece of extraordinary complexity. Our DNA is not only unique, but it is so complex that one of the scientists who mapped the human genome stated, “We now know that the first living cell could not have come into being by chance.” I wonder if he realized the full impact of that factual statement. Every cell in our body contains the signature of our Creator. As amazing as our body and mind are, God didn’t stop there. God, who is a spirit, created us in His own image. We are spiritual as well as physical beings. When we became marred with sin, God offered to recreate us into the masterpiece we were meant to be through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we accept His offer, He restores us by making us a new creation through His mercy and grace.
Writing in defiance of religious leaders who were teaching adherence to the Law of Moses by requiring the circumcision of all followers of Christ, Paul wrote in large letters, “It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15) He described that “new creation” to the Ephesians this way, “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.” (Ephesians 2:10)
As an artist creates a masterpiece to convey a message to the art world, God wants us, His masterpieces, to convey His message to a lost world.