Introduction !
phesians 2:10 tells us, “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” (NLT). Most Christians, at least internally, resist the idea that we were created to be God’s masterpiece. What does that mean? How can we live as God’s masterpiece in a world fraught with evil, sin, despair, conflict, and pain? Then we find out some of these issues are not just out there, they are inside of us as well. Add to this our struggle to find meaning in the ordinary, peace in the busyness and the fullness of life, when life itself seems to be barely firing on one cylinder, and we end up in a tortuous process of trying to find God’s will in the here and now. And wrestling with it often produces feelings of guilt, frustration, and dismay. Starting with a story of how one man found a priceless document hidden behind an old painting and rickety frame at a flea market, we will discover how we trade God’s best for us for a distorted view of who we really are. The real masterpiece we were created to be remains hidden behind other false paintings, trapped inside old frames. When Jesus proposed the building of God’s kingdom, not in a political arena but in the hearts of men, women, and children, it was a radical idea. Two thousand years later, the strategy hasn’t changed. The idea is if we truly experience the zest for life that the Spirit of God can bring into our souls (abundant living that Jesus promised His followers), then the world will see a collection of millions of God’s masterpieces, working in tandem, a tapestry of Unearthed: Discover Life as God’s Masterpiece
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