And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Ephesians 2:6-10
“Over a hundred years ago, a group of fishermen were relaxing in the dining room of a Scottish seaside inn, trading fish stories. One of the men gestured widely, depicting the size of a fish that got away. His arm struck the serving maid’s tea tray, sending the teapot flying into the whitewashed wall, where its contents left an irregular brown splotch.
“The innkeeper surveyed the damage and sighed, ‘The whole wall will have to be repainted.’
” ‘Perhaps not,’ offered a stranger. ‘Let me work with it.’
“Having nothing to lose, the proprietor consented. The man pulled pencils, brushes, some jars of linseed oil, and pigment out of an art box. He sketched lines around the stains and dabbed shades and colors throughout the splashes of tea. In time, an image began to emerge: a stag with a great rack of antlers. The man inscribed his signature at the bottom, paid for his meal, and left. His name: Sir Edwin Landseer, famous painter of wildlife.
“In his hands, a mistake became a masterpiece. God’s hands do the same, over and over. He draws together the disjointed blotches in our life and renders them an expression of his love. We become pictures, ‘examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us’ (Eph. 2:7 NLT).
“Receive God’s work. Drink deeply from his well of grace.”
- Max Lucado, Encouragement from BibleGateway.com (November 30)
Have you ever made something that you felt was really good? I had a short story or two that I wrote decades ago and then when I pulled the printed copy out of a file drawer, I wondered, “What was I thinking?” I can look at recent stories after two or three months of them being uploaded and I find typos, but a story that just makes no sense? More than once.
I have painted, done pastels, and done charcoal sketches. I thought they were okay. I did an oil painting when I was in high school. I used a cover photo of a magazine. It was the first time I had ever done a portrait, first time using oils, and I used a photo of a movie star actress. Fifty years later, my wife was looking through a box of old works that I had done. She asked, “Why do you have an oil painting of Raquel Welch?” I was surprised. I did not know it was her on the cover when I painted it, having read the article months later. I thought I had done such a poor job of it that I could claim that it was just my concept of a pretty woman, no one in particular. But my wife recognized who it was. It was far from a masterpiece, but maybe I had not done that bad of a job.
But what about yourself? Do you feel like a masterpiece?
Max Lucado’s story was taking a stain of teat on a wall and turning it into a painting, at the hands of a master. Sir Edwin Landseer was the official painter for Queen Victoria, painting a portrait of her, the royal children, and the royal pets. Possibly the most famous of his wildlife paintings is that of a large stag, on canvas, not the wall of a pub, The Monarch of the Glen, a painting of a majestic twelve-point stag with mountains and clouds behind.
So too, God transforms us, those who God has chosen, those who believe and trust in Him. We may not feel like a masterpiece. We may think we need to make up an excuse for our lack of Christlikeness. But God will recognize us.
As Max Lucado concludes, let us not get in the way of God’s grace. Let us accept His grace and His transforming powers. We can indeed become the masterpiece God knows is within us. But that masterpiece is not us, but Jesus within us.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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