Masterpieces

Imagine that a grand exhibit has come to the prestigious art museum in your city. A world famous artist's work is on display. It will be a once in a life time opportunity for you to see this amazing work of art, so you join the long queue that is lined up to visit the exhibit. There are a great many people from all over who have come to take advantage of this special opportunity and the line snakes out of the museum and through the surrounding park. Hour after hour you wait patiently as the line inches it's way through the park and into the museum itself. Finally you make it into the area of the special exhibit – past the security check points, and the lockers in which you must leave your camera and cell phone – and it is your turn to spend a few minutes examining and appreciating the masterpieces on display. As you approach you first notice the amazing intensity of the colors and the exquisite integration of subtle patterns to create an amazingly three dimensional perspective. All around you people are standing and examining the paintings from different perspectives, murmuring softly to each other in appreciation of the skill that was required to create the work on display.

Suddenly your eye is caught by something that you hadn't noticed before. You look a little closer, it cannot be, but it is... that is most definitely you depicted on the canvas of one of the most amazing masterpieces on display. You look around, to see if anyone else has noticed, but everyone else seems preoccupied with other aspects of the artwork on display. You look back again just to make sure you saw things correctly, and yes, that is most definitely your face smiling back at you from the masterpiece in front of you. You don't understand how or why, but for some reason the maestro has included you in one of his greatest works.

How would that make you feel as you stood there absorbing the beauty, the majesty, and the intensity of this artwork that was done in a way that no one else would ever be able to recreate? What would you think if you suddenly realized that you were included in one of the greatest masterpieces of all time?

“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 NLT)