Focus: You Are God's Masterpiece!

Text: Ps.139:14

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."

Let us look at our text from different translations. The Message Bible says, "I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation!" The Passion Translation says, "I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord!" 

Of all that God has made man stands out. You are uniquely crafted and intricately sculpted. You are a living and moving divine sculpture. Paul says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…" (Eph.2:10). The believer in Christ is God's new creation. He is skillfully fabricated and artistically crafted. He is a product of divine choice and perfect execution. 

The word 'workmanship' is poiēma in the Greek. Our words 'poem' and 'poetry' are derived from it. In human form, the believer in Christ is God's piece of poetry and a work of art. He is the poem written by the finger of God - a divine masterpiece. Paul says that you are the epistle of Christ "ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2Cor.3:3). Hallelujah!

In Gen.1:26,27, we read, "Let us MAKE man… So God CREATED man…" In Gen.2:7, we read, "And the LORD God FORMED man…" In verse 22, we read, "And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, MADE he a woman…" So we see four words used in the creation of man. The word 'make' in Hebrew is ‛âώâh. The word 'created' is bârâ'. The 'formed' is yâtsar. Finally, the word 'made' is bânâh.

The four words speak of different aspects of God's creative and productive powers. For example, the word bârâ' speaks of originality. The word implies that God made the man out of nothing - no preexisting material. Man is original, not a copy or an imitation, and God is not a copycat. Everything God makes is original and authentic. 

The word ‛âώâh speak of God as a manufacturer. He made the material part of man using the earth or soil as his raw material. God fabricated the physical part of man from the dust of the ground. Using one thing He formed another - something so beautiful, so remarkable, and so amazing. 

The word yâtsar means to squeeze into shape, to mold or to sculpt. Man is a divine sculpture in a living form - a beauty to behold. 

Finally, the word bânâh means to build. God is an architect and a builder, and like a house, He built the woman. Our God is the number one construction engineer in the universe. In Prov.24:3, we read, "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established." It is the same word in Hebrew. 

Man is an outstanding edifice built by God. The woman stands as a house designed and fabricated by God. Without a woman, there is no home and no family. Every man needs a woman to build a house or home.

Man is a divine architecture - fearfully and wonderfully crafted. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, said, "What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"

In closing, I want you to know that God created you for a purpose and redeemed you for a reason.

Isaiah says, "But now thus saith the LORD that CREATED thee, O Jacob, and he that FORMED thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have REDEEMED thee, I have CALLED thee by thy name; thou art mine… Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have MADE him" (Isa.43:1,7). God created, made, formed, redeemed and called you for His own glory. 

John says, "Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev.4:11). God made you for His own pleasure. He delights in you, and you must do the things that please your maker and master. Paul says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph.2:10). 

You were created to work and created anew to do good works. You must let God's glory shine through you and manifest to the world the image of God in you. Reflect and represent your God on earth. Do good and be a blessing to others, and always bear in mind that you are God's masterpiece, not a mess or a miser.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter