February 10, 2023
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Some years ago I had an opportunity to be at the famous art museum in Paris called "The Louvre." Well, if you haven't had French, you could say The Louvre, but that would be gauche. As I stared at these tremendous masterpieces, I actually became overwhelmed with emotion.
I mean, all of a sudden I came around a corner, and I saw something I hadn't seen all day - special lighting, security guards. It was the most crowded spot I had seen all day. Well, I walked up to a painting there, and I'll bet you could guess what it was - the Mona Lisa. In fact, if you've only heard of one painting, you've probably heard of little Miss Mona Lisa. There she was, kind of leaping out of the canvas in da Vinci's masterpiece, and she was smiling at me. Now, what if I walked up to the Mona Lisa and decided I didn't like the Mona Lisa And I might say, "This painting is dumb!" Well, if I did that, who am I insulting?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "More Valuable Than You Could Imagine."
Our word for today from the Word of God - great verse - Ephesians 2:10. "We are God's workmanship." You know, when each of our grandchildren has been born I've actually held them in my arms and those are the first words I spoke to them. "You are God's workmanship." So this is about them; it's about you. "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." This verse is saying that God did something really special, really unique when He designed you. You're wired by God for assignments He's prepared long before you were born. No one's ever been created like you to do what He's put you on earth to do.
He's given you the strong points that you're going to need for what you're here for. You're just the right build for it, you were born in the right place for it, you have the right background for it, and you're blessed with just the right spiritual equipment. Maybe He's given you some great radar for people, or an ability to really listen, or the ability to organize, or communicate, or analyze.
And then there are things that you don't have. Well, guess what? You don't need them. Maybe you know someone who has a gift you wish you had. They need it for their work; apparently you don't need it for yours! You have everything you need. So you can honestly say, "Everything I need, I have. And what I don't have, I don't need. The weaknesses, the struggles of your life - they're God's tools to soften and sensitize you for the very people He's planned for you to touch.
Let's get back to the Mona Lisa. If I say, "I don't like that painting," who am I putting down? The painting? No, Leonardo da Vinci. I'm insulting the painter. Maybe you've been down on yourself, maybe for a long time, maybe for years. You say, "Well, at least I'm humble. I don't like me very much." That's not humility. That's an insult to the One whose workmanship you are! When you criticize you, you're criticizing the One who created you.
Of course, we should be down on the sin that we allow to devalue us, but we should be grateful for the basic person God made us to be. You're God's masterpiece. He only does masterpieces, no matter what you've been called, no matter how you've been treated, no matter how you've failed. He does masterpieces. So, be careful about comparing yourself to someone else or putting yourself down. After all, you don't want to be guilty of insulting your own personal artist.
It may be that one of the reasons, you say, "Well, man, I just don't feel like I'm worth that much." Could it be that there's a wall between you and the One who gave you your worth? The Bible says, "You were created by Him and for Him." It took Jesus dying on the cross and then coming back from His grave to go through all that to take away the sin that has stained the beautiful creation God made you and me to be. He'd love to bring you into His family today and let you begin to feel the love and the worth that He built into you from the day you were born.
I'd love to help you begin that relationship. That's why we have our website. It's ANewStory.com. Would you go check it out? Experience for yourself the love of the One who thinks you are worth so much - He died for you.