We are His Eternal Canvas

When you flip open any Bible, the first words you’ll see are, “In the beginning, God created . . ..”  We should contemplate the importance creativity plays in our lives considering it was God’s first act.  The evidence of His artwork is all around us.  Think about the times you’ve watched the sun rise or stood in complete awe of the vast colors swirled together and spun across the sky.  Ponder the way the sun bursts through the clouds and touches the ground to seemingly create a ladder straight to heaven.  Entertain in your mind stunning green plains or snowcapped mountains and how they glisten with a million tiny kisses from the sun.  Reflect on the majesty and power of the ocean as the waves rise high with force but glide to shore with gentle ease to brush your feet with a tender thank-you for spending the day together.  Recall a time you watched the sun descend to rest for another day while the sky opened wide to display a panorama of brilliant stars to light your way and guide your path.  Consider the mysteries behind the phenomenal spectacle of the aurora borealis as the colors dance through the night sky and leave us unable to describe its brilliance with mere words.

We are blessed to have a personal relationship with the artist behind all that beauty, yet those are only a few of God’s canvases on which He showcases His creativity, design, and artwork.  We can continue to list the multitude of His handiwork, although none of it even begins to compare with His most important piece—us.  Out of the grand collection of His many magnificent masterpieces, none of them are modeled after God Himself, except for us.  Have you ever thought about that?  Before artists release the first stroke of the brush, they imagine what the end product will look like.  They then begin to transfer their vision to the canvas and fashion their work of art.  What a deeply humbling consideration to grasp the knowledge that God’s vision for His greatest workmanship was formed and shaped in His own image.

How quickly we lose sight of it, though, and forget the care and deliberateness He took when He crafted us in His own likeness.  We look in the mirror and see nothing more than a screwup or disaster.  We see that the life we’re living isn’t the one we painted for ourselves.  We see that our body is less than perfect, which diminishes our self-esteem.  We see our many failures that trample on our self-worth, and we tell ourselves that if we don’t even accept us, no one else does, either.  None of that is what the Lord intended!  Imagine you’re an artist who just painted your most noteworthy showpiece ever, which is currently on display for all to see.  However, when others look at it, they only notice the small imperfections or the way it failed to meet their expectations.  I imagine that would be rather disheartening for you, don’t you think?  Yet, that’s exactly what we do with God’s greatest design.

But our Lord is the God of second chances!  Philippians 1:6 tells us, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  No matter how many times we’ve failed or how often we allow our imperfections and misperceptions to pull us down, God never stops working on us.  He is ever present to renew our minds, refresh our spirit, and remind us of His deep and unwavering love.  God is not done making us His masterpiece.  Author Randy Alcorn says it this way: “God doesn’t throw away His handiwork and start from scratch—instead, He uses the same canvas to repair and make more beautiful the painting marred by the vandal.  The vandal doesn’t get the satisfaction of destroying His masterpiece.  On the contrary, God makes an even greater masterpiece out of what His enemy sought to destroy.”

You’re not worthless; you’re just unfinished.  You’re not unlovable; you’re just unfinished.  You’re not a failure; you’re just unfinished.  You’re not a catastrophe or a debacle; you’re just unfinished.  You’re not a letdown or a loser; you’re just unfinished. 

Let’s pick ourselves up and start living the narrative that God’s not done making us His masterpiece.  He started something good in us—believe it—and know that He’s going to complete it.  Take hold of that fact—celebrate that truth—and know that no matter what, He will always paint us anew because we are His eternal canvas.