Masterpiece in the Making

By Cal Cook

My wife Karma and I have just spent ten days celebrating our 25^th Wedding Anniversary in Hawaii and had a great time! It was a much needed vacation for both of us after a busy couple of weeks. First Annual Conferrence and then Vacation Bible School…I have to admit I was getting a bit burned out! It was much needed for the two of us, spending time together just enjoying one another’s company. Maui is filled with things to do and eveyone is busy doing them! I have to admit that I was challenged to follow God’s commands on this trip…

We are commanded by our Creator with but two commandments…really just one depending on how you look at it…to love! To Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength…and to love your neighbor as yourself. Now I know in my own heart, I cannot love my neighbor without first loving God…in fact it is only in obedience to God and His commandment that I’m able to truly love others! I’ve got the loving myself part down…it’s the loving my neighbor part that I struggle with!

Not the ones who are like me or the ones who are nice to me…that’s easy! It’s loving those who are not like me, it’s loving those who are not nice to me…it’s loving those who seem to go out of their way to be obnoxious! You know the ones who seem to need to be so loud that everyone hears their business…the ones who have no problem stepping in front of you or blocking your way…I think they are a small minority but I seem to find them wherever people are! I was convicted this last week of not loving others enough…not the individuals…but the masses.

I’ve never liked crowds, I don’t like being boxed in…maybe it’s a control thing, I don’t know but whenever I’m crowded in with people I get anxious. The 10 hours of flying was miserable! Not only am I not in control but then I’m stuffed into a little thing they call a seat! It’s so small that when the person in front of me leans back they are in my lap! I know I’m supposed to love them God…but do You really mean now!

We went to the top of Mt. Haleakala to watch the sunrise. We got up at 3am to drive up 10000 feet to the top of the crater and people were everywhere…noisy people, crowding people…people who seemed more interested in goofing off and laughing then watching the sunrise! We got up at 3am and just endured almost two hours of back and forth, round and round and now you’re not going to enjoy it!? I need to love more!

We are God’s handy-work…His masterpiece…that was the message I heard on Sunday at Hope Chapel on Maui. Author and Psychologist Dr. Larry Crabb was the guest speaker…and as the Holy Spirit has a way of orchestrating…the message was just for me…and I’m sure many others who were there that day! Ephesians 2:1-10 was the scripture for the message…a familiar passage to many. But the part that Larry focused on was the part that I now realize I had been skipping over…verse 10

Ephesians 2:10 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.

If I’m God’s masterpiece that means that you are as well…and if you and I…then those other people are as well! The ones who bother me and get on my nerves…the ones who don’t even realize that they are God’s! The ones who think they are God’s only masterpiece! The ones who are filled with pride and arrogance…the ones demanding their own way…the ones I struggle to love…

Lord help me to see them all as your handiwork…your masterpiece in the making!