God's Painting

I have been treading lightly through Erwin McMannus' book, "An Unstoppable Force" lately and have been inspired by a portion he wrote about the Christian life. Drawing from *Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship created in Christ for good works" McMannus writes that, "We are the paintbrush through which God will paint His masterpiece." This is both inspiring and challenging for me. There seems to be a two-fold challenge for Christians in McMannus' quote: 1. You have to be open the the Master Painter Francis Sheaffer calls this, "passive-obedience." That is, actively laying our own agenda to the side and doing God's will. A beautiful picture of this is Jesus' mother Mary. If you read her response in Luke's Gospel (1:38) to the angel when she is told that she is with child she responds by saying, "I am the Lord's servant, may it happen to me as you have said." 2. You have to be accepting of the Master's Utensils The reality is, each person who desires to follow Jesus is a unique person created to live out their Christian lives in a way that expresses God's creativity. More simply, our calling and gifts are different and when we come together to make up the Body of Christ, we should accept and celebrate this uniqueness. Think about it, a painter has more than one brush. A painter has a variety of brushes that all add something unique and different to the picture being painted. Considering this fact, some brushes may be used more often than others, while some brushes may be used for special touch up work. Regardless of their use, they are all important to the one painting. They will all be used to create something beautiful. I know this, when Christians come together in the spirit of celebrating each others uniqueness and put those gifts to work in God's Kingdom...beautiful things come of it. *Commenting on the above verse, John MacArthur states... The Greek word translated "workmanship" in Ephesians 2:10 came to mean "masterpiece." We are God's masterpiece. From the beginning His design was to conform us to Christ, our good works being the proof of our salvation. God's power is at work in your life, shaping you into the image of Jesus Christ. You are God's masterpiece