Disguise

Disguise

 Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Our passage this week discusses an idea that all of us will face at one time in our lives, or maybe you are going through it right now. This passage and this message apply to you, no matter who you are, because we are each made in the image of God. If you stop reading right here and see nothing else, I want you to know that God loves you and carefully designed every aspect of what makes you you. 

This weekend I attended a convention in Atlanta and people dressed up for this convention in extremely elaborate costumes. It was quite an experience to see and be around as you saw people not responding to their real names but rather to the names of the characters that they had dressed up as. All weekend I got to see people be so comfortable in the skin that they were wearing it gave the entire city a sense of self confidence that I have not seen in many places before.

I was reminded of this passage in Ephesians, as it discusses that we are God's workmanship. God put careful time and thought into each of our lives. He allowed us to all be a unique individual that is a part of the incredible whole of humanity. Yet I had to ask myself why I don't receive this same sense of confidence everyday as I did this weekend at the convention. 

Why was it that walking around with fantasy characters seemed more comfortable than walking around my own college campus. That's when the truth really sunk in, comfort. It seems that in today's world we have no comfort. There is some flaw in each of us that we hold onto, whether it be our looks or our personality, something is always holding us back. We can't seem to shed the discomforts of the flaw, and thus we aren't able to be comfortable in the wonders God has blessed us with. As verse 8 mentions, it is not by us that we have achieved this. It is a gift, God didn't have to make us fearfully and wonderfully made. God could have made us all average humans who just mindlessly turn around and praise Him. 

That wouldn't be love though, that wouldn't be a choice on our part. You see I firmly believe that God has made each of us incredible so that in the end we see we are reflections of an even greater God. Verse 9 even states this, so that no man may boast. So what is it? What are you holding onto right now that is denying your vision of being made in God's masterpiece. You see a masterpiece isn't put underneath a blanket. The Mona Lisa isn't sitting in a closet, it's out on display for all to see the wonderful work that was created.

God calls us to do the same. Now once again, I'm not telling you the bible wants you to walk onto the street corner and say, "Everyone look at me! I'm so incredible and oh yeah God made me too." That would be awkward and people might throw things at you, but rather embrace the fact that you, in your entirety, were created by a marvelous God.

I'll close with this idea, some of you may think to yourselves I don't know how I could be God's workmanship. I've failed too many times, I've done too many bad things, I'm not a good person. I've let God down and I don't know how I could ever be a reflection of Him. The Skit Guys used this phrasing exactly in their skit God's Chisel: "'I let you down so many times God.' 'No my child, you were never holding me up. I hold you up with my victorious righteous right hand. Never forget that, in this relationship I hold you up.'" He holds up His masterpiece, we just have to be willing to accept His love. 

Thank you for reading and God bless.