Mankind. Masterpiece. Mesmerized.

Sometimes I do not have the greatest self-esteem in the world. As a task oriented person, if I fail at something I do, sometimes I feel as though I fail as a person. Though I know it is not supposed to be this way, and I try to change my oh-so ignorant ways, sometimes I nonetheless get into the rut of feeling worthless. I feel as though I am not good enough for God. I’m sure if you glance through the rest of my blogs you can tell that a lot of my posts deal with significance – the very thing that God is dealing with me. And though I know that grace is “getting what you don’t deserve,” I have trouble really feeling the grace of God sometimes.

With this I am reminded of the creation account in Genesis. Whether you believe in a literal six day creation, day age theory, the framework view, or another one of the myriad of exegetical interpretations, you have to admit that there is theological purpose behind what the writer pens. I was reading a book about the creation last semester for a class. One of the chapters I read talked about a theme that I never noticed before. As the author was talking about the “days” in the account, he pointed that all of these “days” had both a beginning and an ending… except for day seven. The day that God rested, he said, has never ended and that God is still at “rest” with His creation, waiting for the consummation of the age.

Why would God need to rest after “six days” of creating? It’s not like an all-powerful Being to get tired all of the sudden… what gives? Upon reading further the author explained that God wasn’t resting in the sense of being tired, but that He was resting in a sense of being “content” with His creation. He looked at this earth, the animals, and trees, with humans and all, and saw that “it was good.” This just reminds me of my own life.

I think of it in terms of art (every one who knows me says, “of course!”). When an artist invests his time into a piece, he works at it until it reaches its perfection. Hours of time are invested in the details of making sure every stroke is where it is needed to be. What might have started as a blank canvas ends as a masterpiece. The artist takes a step back, scratches his chin, and just soaks in the beauty of what he just created.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul spends the first half of the book reminding the Ephesian believers of who they are as children of God. Paul tells them who they were before they knew God, reminds them of what Christ did on their behalf, and boldly proclaims to them who they are now that they have accepted Christ as their savior. One of my favorite verses is in this section of the epistle. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Remember that you are God’s workmanship. That just as God spent time at the beginning of creation to perfectly shape and mold the crevices of the earth, he spent the same time molding and shaping you into the person you are. And though you are fallen now, as all man is, as a believer you show the workmanship of God through Christ. So don’t let anyone or anything in your life discourage you of that, because no matter what happens to you, God is always there ready to forgive you and receive you back into His loving arms.

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