Friday, May 18, 2007
Linda is one of the members of our ministry team, and she married a guy with an eye; an eye for artistic possibilities, that is. Ted works on home improvement projects, and he actually helped to improve our home a little bit not long ago. For example, he created this beautiful shelf in our living room. It's made from wood that he scouted and found in the nearby forest. My wife said, "Hey, we're the only ones with a shelf just like that." See, Ted does originals. Well, recently, he took Linda into the woods to see a tree that he thought had tremendous artistic possibilities. So, he envisioned out loud what he wanted to make of it. Linda's comment on this little field trip was slightly amusing: "Ted saw this beautiful work of art. All I saw was a tree."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What the Master Craftsman Sees in You."
I wonder what folks have seen when they looked at you over the years. Maybe "all they saw was a tree." They haven't seen your potential. They haven't seen your beauty as a person, your value, or your possibilities. Maybe you've gotten the feeling from people that, when they look at you, all they can see is someone who's a problem, or a failure, or ugly, not worth much, or worse yet, virtually invisible. There may have been people who saw you as an easy target; people who saw you as someone to use or abuse; someone to walk on by or walk over.
None of those people begin to understand who you really are and what you're really worth. But the Master Craftsman does, and He wants you to start to see yourself through His eyes. In our word for today from the Word of God in John 1:42, Jesus meets Simon the fisherman for the first time; the same Simon who would one day become the leader of Jesus' disciples, the great Simon Peter. But not this day. The Bible says, "Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas,'" which, when translated, is "Peter."
Now, everybody looks at Simon and all they see is John's son. Jesus looks at him and sees Peter, which means "rock." Now Simon was more a flake than a rock at this point. For the next three years as Jesus' disciple, Simon demonstrated his volatility, his unpredictability, his up-and-downness. But like my friend Ted looking at that tree and seeing so much more, Jesus looks at Simon and sees, not just the roller coaster man he is, but the rock he's going to become if he follows Jesus.
What does Jesus see when He looks at you? Not just who or what you are, but what He can make of you if you put your life in His hands; the makeover miracle described this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" And when Jesus looks at you, He sees what you yourself may have never seen: His handmade creation, designed to make a unique difference on this planet. In the words of Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." And, most important, Jesus sees in you someone He thought was worth dying for. To pay for all the junk you've ever done against Him so you could be forgiven and so you could be allowed into His heaven. In a sense, when Jesus looks at you, He sees a tree - the cross where He poured out His life for one He didn't want to lose.
But you'll never experience this great love He has for you; you'll never become the man or woman He made you to be, until you give your life to this Man who gave His life for you by saying, "Jesus, I have lived so long beneath what You made me for. I've sinned. I need a Savior, and I'm Yours." I'd love to help you begin this love relationship with Jesus today. If you'd just visit our website, there is some great information there to help you. It's yoursforlife.net. Or you can call toll free and I'll send you my booklet Yours for Life. Just call 877-741-1200.
Let this be the first day of a lifetime where you live like you were created to live by the One who made you - the One who only makes masterpieces.