Let’s suppose you were standing in an art gallery looking at a painting.  A man comes in and begins to look at the same painting, then another. The first says, “This painting is horrible.  I wouldn’t give a dime for it.” The other man says, “Oh no, I disagree. This is a true masterpiece worth millions.”  Which one would you believe?

To know who to believe, you would have to know their credentials.  You would need to know which of them was a true expert on art. You would want to know if they were known in the art world to be an expert.  Once you found out that one was an expert and the other was not, it would be simple to dismiss one man’s words for the other.

When it comes to the intrinsic value of human beings, there is only one expert.  His name is Jehovah God. He is the only One who can understand the complexities of the human brain, the beauty of the muscular and skeletal structure.  He alone understands how we are brought to life and what it takes to maintain that life. No one else can fathom the depths of the human heart and the profoundness of the human spirit with its almost endless ability to do that which was believed impossible.  Anyone else who comments on the value of a human being is simply a novice at best. This person has no expertise. The janitor of an art gallery may see a panting a thousand times, but this does not make an expert of him. Even the people who see you every single day have no expertise to comment or define your value.  Anything they say that goes against the word of the Cosmic Expert, our Maker, and Creator, should be dismissed entirely.  

Your value is not what people say about you.  Your value is determined by God and God alone.  We must learn to listen to Him. And we must know that God is not only the expert connoisseur of humanity but the artist as well.  And He has never produced anything but perfection. You are a masterpiece. It’s time to lay down what your husband has said, your Momma, your Daddy, your wife, your siblings, your molester, your rapist, your preacher.  Only one voice matters and that voice comes in a whisper from the Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at our Verse of the Day:

Isaiah 64:8

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

(NIV)

The phraseology of this passage is intriguing.  The last sentence is said as if it is done. We are the work of your hand.  One translation puts it into the past tense saying ‘you are the potter who molded us.’  Certainly, He created us and put us into the womb of our mothers and in this sense, He has created us and His work is done.

But at the same time, the Spirit does not prompt the prophet Isaiah to write that we are the cup, the plate, the vase, the piece of art, the masterpiece.  No, he leaves us as the clay, unfinished, raw, wet with water still spinning in the hands of our Maker.  

When the Lord made you fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:14), He crafted you in perfection-your appearance, personality, passion.  He finished us. But then He placed us in the newness of birth vulnerable to the touch, mistakes, selfishness, and sin of those who would carry us, love us, hate us, cherish and despise us and the formation continues.  I am who I am because of how God made me and how people handled me. He finished me, but I am still being formed.

The Bible says the iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children.  One translation of ‘father’ here is parents, but I read it differently and many other translations leave it as ‘fathers’ meaning the fathers of a city, a village, the influential people in our life.  We have all had people in our lives who truly loved us and some who have not. There have been those in our lives who loved well and those who loved poorly. The finished product of Heaven has been marred, yet our hope is knowing that we are still clay in His hands.  He created us as we were to be, but laid us down in flesh and blood. It would seem as if we might have been abandoned. Perhaps it has even felt that way, but He has never let go. His hands remain. Our life spins in His touch, wet with the Holy Spirit healing the places where others have pressed too far and too hard.  He does not let us crumble at their touch, but He has given us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), that receives the water of the Spirit and the gentle touch of a Savior. He will not let us fall. He is protecting His masterpiece. Let us remain in the hands of the artist who adores us, Christ Jesus. And may we never be found dry, but soft, supple, with the glean of the Holy Spirit.  For He who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ’s return (Philippians 1:6). Stop listening to others. There is only One voice that matters.

We have all had things said and done to us that have made us feel less than.  Some of us have had it happen way too often by people too close, but God is our healer.  Leave me a comment and let me know how God has helped you overcome what others have said.  Be sure to share this with anyone who may need to hear it.

Live Blessed and Be a Blessing!