A work of art...

The artwork of the masters is amazing. Whether it is seeing great sculptures like Michelangelo’s David, or paintings by, Monet, or Degas, or Rembrandt, I am amazed at what they can do to make the art come alive.

I have some artist friends, and their work amazes me, too. Canvas, brushes, paints of acrylic, oil, or watercolor, all come together in the masters’ hands. Sometimes I have watched demonstrations of these works in progress. I think that is where you see the genius behind the paintbrush or palate knife.

One of those artists is Michael Holter. Though I don’t know Michael well, we have mutual friends. And,of course, Facebook connects us from time to time. Michael has done some time-lapse video of his amazing work on a project. I am fascinated watching it. Michael primarily uses water colors to render his masterpieces. As I have watched, several thoughts go through my mind.

At times I wonder what Michael is doing. He applies colors that seem out of place. Sometimes he puts another color on top of one he painted before, just leaving little places the original color he applied. I watch amazed as layers of colors are added in various spots on the paper, and I think, “That doesn’t belong there. It’s too bright. Too dark. Too…whatever.”

Then, amazingly, features take on a striking reality. That blob of color becomes the eyes. That streak of color shapes the nose. That color on color becomes a scarf. Many times I want say, “There, that’s good enough. It looks nice.” But the artist continues to add a touch here and a stroke of color there. And it gets more and more lifelike, with more character, more emotion, more personality.

I think that happens to us in our lives. God is painting a picture, color by color, stroke by stroke. Some of it doesn’t seem to make sense. Some of it seems out of place. Some of it washes out what was there before, and we can’t see the result of the layers of life that are being built up.

But God is up to something. He has an image in mind. And it is the image of His Son, Jesus. He is painting a masterpiece…and you and I are the canvas he is using.

[blockquote author=”Ephesians 2:10″ link=”” target=”_blank”] For we are his workmanship (masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus….[/blockquote]

My job and yours is to allow God to work on us until He is finished. Our job is to allow the Creator God to continue his work. And He will be faithful to complete it, if we let him.

And it will be a masterpiece!

By the way, if you would like to see a time-lapse of Michael Holter’s work, click HERE.