God's surprising masterpiece

When this day, the last of July in 2015, arrived, how did you feel about yourself?

From the Message translation of John's Gospel comes this, this fine humid-less morning in North Louisiana. "The Life-Light was the real thing: Every persons entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, but the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten."

I adore the notion of "their child-of-God selves."
I adore the notion of "God-begotten."

Have you thought about that? Like, ever?

You are more than you think you are. You are more than you could imagine. You are, if you "want" him (being Jesus of Nazareth), if you believe Jesus was who he claimed and do your best to do what Jesus taught, you are your true self, a child-of-God self.

I like the way Paul put it. "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

This is who we are, whose we are. I've made dreadful mistakes, poor choices, given too much for dogs and cats of this world just as an example, but I am who God says I am, and according to Paul, that's a masterpiece of God.

The entire universe is out there, with a second Earth just discovered apparently, but we are his masterpiece.

We are child-of-God selves.
We are God-begotten.

We are his chosen, his loved, his Light. We who believe in Jesus as our Lord and as our Savior have been given the inordinately improbably and unlikely task of being God-begotten, so much so that we are to share our Life-Light with those who do not know and do not care and do not believe.

Just...
like...
Jesus did.

So, get up, get going, get charged, get energized and let this day be a day you show off God's painting. You are his masterpiece.

Go, show off.