what a masterful work of art!

i watched my husband begin to clear our backyard of leaves this past weekend. he raked most of them in a pile and burned them. then he started up the riding lawn mower to give the grass one more good sweep to mulch up the leaves that remained. as i think back on it now, the john deere really did the work. aaron just sat on the seat and steered the rider in the direction that needed to be cared for.

whoever designed the riding tractor was brilliant and went to great lengths to have it created to work perfectly. it is a masterpiece among lawn tools, able to accomplish a great amount of work in a short period of time. but, the mower was not created to do what it does so brilliantly on its own. it was not created to self start and propel itself independently of an owner. beautifully crafted, with so much potential to accomplish so much, it is useful for nothing on its own. unless it is empowered by an owner, it will just sit there and do nothing except be jacob's play toy. but, united with an operator, great work can be accomplished. the beauty of it's accomplishment is displayed in our backyard. what a masterful work of art!

i see the work of Christ in our lives much the same. we are His creation. His work of art! His masterpiece! He went to great lengths, in Jesus, to bring about the ability for us to accomplish great things, to bring us into union with Himself through the Holy Spirit and empower us to radiate His glory in our lives. but, we were not created to do that on our own. we were not created to self start and propel our lives independently. we have been beautifully crafted and empowered by the Holy Spirit with the potential of such good works. but, we are useful for nothing on our own. unless we allow the Operator to start us up and guide us, we are accomplishing nothing. we can pretend to go and work physically, in our own ability, but spiritually, we are just sitting, doing no good thing and revealing no true beauty. ephesians 2:10 says, "for we are God's own handiwork (His masterpiece), recreated in Christ Jesus, that we may do those good works which God planned ahead of time for us that we should walk in them." we have been recreated in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the great work of displaying the glory of God and as we depend upon our union with Him and are empowered by His strength, His beauty will be displayed in our lives. we are the workmanship of God created to do great work as God empowers us and steers us in the direction that needs to be cared for. what a masterful work of art!