Lent: With One VoiceSample
YOU ARE GOD’S MASTERPIECE!
Think of a great painting such as Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine chapel, or Monet’s waterlilies. Plaster, paint and canvas transformed by time and skill into something beautiful.
These passages begin by noting that the canvas of our lives reveals the need of God’s transforming grace, shown in Jesus and received by faith. They end by indicating that the way we behave reveals the nature of our belief in Jesus. God’s love for us is such that He offers in Jesus a quality of life, ‘eternal life’, which begins now and transcends death. The emphasis in John is not so much on length of life, but depth and quality.
Paul in Ephesians makes the same point. Those who possess faith in Christ and receive His salvation by grace will show God’s goodness in their lives. We become God’s workmanship – His work of art, His masterpiece. God by His Holy Spirit moulds our character and actions so that we become crafted in His image, a work of grace.
FOR REFLECTION
• If God by His Holy Spirit is shaping my life, what particular areas of my actions and values need to be transformed by God’s grace?
• Paul emphasizes that it is not what we say, but what we do which shows the real evidence of our faith. If we were a painting – what image would we be showing to the world?
PRAYER
Jesus, open my eyes to Your presence, open my ears to Your word, open my heart to Your love. Grant me grace to live a life of truth and love that who I am and what I do will be a beautiful offering to You. Amen.
Scripture
About this Plan
A Lent devotional material created by the pastors of International Churches of Hong Kong, a guide for decisions, a vision of the future and a challenge to lifestyle. It is a subversive material that undermines contemporary assumptions and defies social norms. It is all of this because it is the Word of God as recorded by Mark and others, and therefore is about the transformation of people and communities.
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We would like to thank International Christian Churches in Hong Kong provided by The Vine for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://www.thevine.org.hk/