WORSHIP AND WORK

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills -- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.’”  (Exodus 31:1-5)

To behold is to see beyond sight. I think of beholding as a participation in divine perceptivity. God creates, and God beholds. As divine image-bearers, we do the same. It's what we were made for.

This is precisely what artists do. Artists have a sense of vision beyond eyesight. They see what can't be seen, and they bring it into visibility through acts of creation so we can see it too. They behold, and in creating something for us to see, they train us to behold -- to see beyond our limited sight.

Behold -- the first art project in the kingdom of God is an installation of creativity that will point us not to the artist, nor to the art, but to God Himself. This is the divine calling of a holy artist -- to forge and fashion the vision of "on earth as it is in heaven" through every medium imaginable by all manner of creative work. I think I may have stumbled onto a definition of worship from the back side.

What if all work were approached in this same way? When work is done as worship -- which is to say, from a place of beholding -- it causes all work to rise to the level of art. It becomes a thing to "behold," which points us to the God of glory. There is a word for this kind of awakening: renaissance.

-- Excerpted from “Wake-Up Call” with J. D. Walt 

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GOD'S WORK OF ART

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)

While on a trip to Paris, I visited the Louvre Museum.  I stood speechless in the presence of so many priceless paintings.  I saw the Mona Lisa, up close and personal.  My mother and I stood in awe, whispering in hushed tones, "Can you believe we're looking at her?  She's the real thing, not a cheap imitation!"  Leonardo da Vinci had no idea when he painted the portrait that it would be a gift to the entire world -- a gift that inspires generation after generation.

God is the Master artist; all of the creation declares His handiwork.  Each sunset is a stroke of the Master's brush.  And you are His living masterpiece.  Mona Lisa can't hold a candle to you.  As God's work of art, you are not intended to hang on a wall in a museum, gathering dust.  He created you with a purpose -- His purpose -- to do good works that reflect His artistry. 

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians”

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GOD'S WORK OF ART

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

One of the great works of art in the Western world is Michelangelo's Pietà, a marble statue of an anguished Mary holding the crucified Christ. Some years ago a fanatic nationalist rushed upon the masterpiece and began smashing it with a sledgehammer. Although the damage was significant, Vatican artists were able to restore the statue to near-perfect condition.

You were created to be a masterpiece of God. Paul writes, "For we are God's poiēma" -- a word that can mean God's "workmanship," or even God's "work of art." God made you to know oneness with Him and with other human beings. God made you to be co-regent with Him -- to "fill the earth and subdue it," to "have dominion" over creation under His reign and with His help. It is the goodness of God's work in creating us that makes our fallenness so tragic. This is why my disappointment in myself runs so deep.

But God is determined to overcome the defacing of His image in us. His plan is not simply to repair most of our brokenness. He wants to make us new creatures. So the story of the human race is not just one of universal disappointment, but one of inextinguishable hope.

-- John Ortberg in “The Life You've Always Wanted”

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