Become Confident—You are God’s Masterpiece
God made you unique because the needs of the people all over the world are unique.
Your purpose in life will ultimately affect other people. But it’s not just about what you do; it’s about who you are. Who you are is what attracts them to what you carry. And what you carry is a valuable gift.
Imagine that I’m about to give you a present. I have two very similar items in two identical white boxes. One of the boxes is wrapped in blue gift-wrapping paper, and the other one is wrapped in red paper. When I give these wrapped gifts to you, I tell you to choose only one. You don’t know what’s in the box, because you can only see the outside. Now if red is your favorite color, you might be more likely to pick the one wrapped in red wrapping paper. On the other hand, just because the gift with blue wrapping paper was not picked doesn’t mean something was wrong with that gift. You are just more likely to choose according to your preference. Do you see how the presentation of the package mattered? It’s the same way with the personalities that God has given us. This is one of the most important statements that I will make in this book: Your personality is how God packages your gift and presents it to the world.
Personalities are what make us unique, even when we feel like our gift is similar to someone else’s gift. It’s who you are that determines how your gift is delivered to the world. Just like you have a favorite color or smell, you are someone’s favorite expression of the ability that you carry. The fact that the red gift was preferred had more to do with the recipient than the actual content of the gift. Remember, God will take you to a people, place, and environment where they prefer your gift delivered to them through your personality, because that’s the way they will receive it best. Say this out loud, “I am someone’s favorite person for the job!”
You can’t enter into the destiny that God has for you trying to be someone else. Let’s recall what David said in the book of Psalms, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it” (Psalm 139:14 NLT). God has made us marvelous and wonderfully complex—all of us. Some of us are a little more complex than others, and some like things much simpler. You are a marvel (even though you might not be a superhero). That is not just for those who come from a good neighborhood, went to college, live in a nice house, are physically fit, or have the right connections. This is true for every single person, without exception. Don’t question how you are made. God doesn’t make accidents. He has never made an accident in the history of the universe, and He didn’t start with you. Nothing about you is accidental. You were carefully constructed, calculated, and designed.
His Masterpiece
For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us] (Ephesians 2:10 AMP).
In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul reminds us of who we really are and who made us. The word workmanship in the Greek is pŏiēma,[1] which is the origin of our English word poem. This word means “masterpiece or work of art.” When I think of a masterpiece, I think of the famous painting Mona Lisa created by Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa is the best known, most visited, most written about, and most sung about work of art in the whole world.[2] The Mona Lisa is one-of-a-kind, but what makes it so great?
It is recorded that it took da Vinci 16 years to complete the painting of the Mona Lisa. Unlike other paintings of the 16th century, the Mona Lisa was a very realistic portrait of a real person. Contemporary art connoisseur Mariana Custodio had this to say about da Vinci:
To create a masterpiece you have to be a master yourself. And Leonardo da Vinci was an absolute genius. Drawing, painting, sculpting, da Vinci was also an engineer, a scientist, an architect and a theorist—a man of many talents you may say.[3]
Many scholars consider the Mona Lisa a masterpiece because of the difficult techniques displayed in color blending and the subtle gradations of light and shadow to model form. Custodio goes on to say:
Mona Lisa’s softly sculpted face shows how innovative da Vinci was in regards to exploring new techniques… In addition to its incredible technicalities, the woman’s soft smile is incredibly alluring. There’s also a thing called the Mona Lisa Effect: The resonance of her facial expression depends on the angle from which the viewer approaches it.[4]
Many scholars, however, point out that the excellent quality of the Mona Lisa alone was not enough by itself to make the painting a celebrity. There are, after all, many good paintings. Many external events also contributed to the artwork’s fame, starting with the inclusion of the painting in the royal collection of Francis I, king of France. It remained in French palaces until the French Revolution claimed the royal collection as the property of the people. It then found its way into Napoleon’s bedroom before being installed in the Louvre Museum at the turn of the nineteenth century.[5] And we know just how much rich and powerful people like to show off their art collections, especially a piece as significant as the Mona Lisa.
Consider everything that went into this painting: time, unparalleled attention to detail, innovative techniques, and a master creator’s touch. All of these factors also went into your composition by the ultimate Creator, God. As He employed His divine tools, a masterpiece was born: you. God calls you His masterpiece—something that can’t be duplicated, erased, or replaced. Ephesians 2:10 says you are God’s work of art, even more valuable than da Vinci’s famous painting. And you have been created at just the right time in history. You must trust that the great Creator produced the right creation for the right time. God is ready to show you off as one of His most prized pieces. You must have faith in yourself. After all, you’re one of God’s greatest creations.
Now, let me share a new revelation with you: Look closely at the Mona Lisa. Do you see her eyebrows? No, because she doesn’t have any. Take a minute to look it up online. Isn’t that strange? I’ve always wondered what the story is behind that. Maybe an eyebrow threading appointment gone horribly wrong. Maybe she was born with a condition of some kind. Regardless of the reason, here is my point: Even a masterpiece has small defects or flaws, but people don’t stop calling it a masterpiece. These small defects didn’t make people value the Mona Lisa any less. Those defects didn’t stop people from visiting the painting, writing about it, or even singing about it.
Maybe you have examined yourself and noticed that you have some flaws. So what? You’re not a masterpiece because you’re flawless. You’re a masterpiece because you’re priceless. You may have an awkward laugh, a few bumps, or a mental challenge. You might feel like you don’t fit in because of your differences. Don’t let some flaws stop you from living a full life. Don’t let those flaws make you hide in isolation. Put yourself on display like the masterpiece you are. You are an original. Be true to yourself, allowing the world to see something they have never seen before. You are one of a kind. And you have eyebrows!
Flaws Are His Access Points
In the Bible, Jeremiah was a young prophet for the nation of Israel. God called him at a young age, and sometimes Jeremiah didn’t quite understand what God was doing. We see this in the following dialogue between God and Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak” (Jeremiah 1:5–7).
In another translation it says, “…I do not know how to speak…” (Jeremiah 1:6 AMP), meaning that Jeremiah was not an eloquent speaker. However, God said that before He formed Jeremiah in the womb He knew him. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God knew you. Do you know what that means? It means that He designed you with a specific personality on purpose. You weren’t an experiment. He knows your weaknesses and your strengths.
God knew Jeremiah’s personality and still ordained him as a prophet to the nations. God even knew of the things that Jeremiah would see as flaws. But what Jeremiah thought was a flaw, God used as an access point that would ultimately give Jeremiah more access to the power and grace of God through his dependence on Him.
Perhaps you have found yourself asking God why He didn’t make you better at something or more perfect in an area. I believe He did this so we can learn to trust Him with our perceived deficiencies. These “flaws” in our personhood are designed to make us more dependent on God’s ability. Perfection can breed pride, but imperfection can lead to humility. Our weaknesses create the need to become more dependent on God’s wisdom, strength, and power.
When God started speaking, Jeremiah immediately gave some excuses as to why he could not speak. God, however, didn’t seem to think his excuses mattered. Have you ever given God excuses before? I know I have. It never seems to work. The truth is, God won’t ask us to do something we are incapable of, especially when His power is available to us. God is a forgiver of sins, but He doesn’t tolerate excuses. If He tells you to do it, you are then responsible for obeying Him, just like Jeremiah was.
The way Jeremiah overcame his fear of speaking was to listen to God, go where God told him to go, and say whatever God told him to say. In other words, he had to become totally dependent on God. If Jeremiah had gone where God didn’t send him and said what God didn’t say, then disobedience would have magnified Jeremiah’s flaws. When we obey God, our flaws decrease in significance. When we disobey God, we unknowingly magnify our flaws. Doubting God leads us to doubt ourselves.
Whenever Jeremiah followed through on what God said, the anointing on his life made up for his personality flaws or defects. The anointing is the power of God that gives you access to unlimited possibilities. My dad likes to say it this way, “It’s the power of God that comes on human flesh that empowers you to do what only God can do.” You must listen to God and do what He says to do. Your pursuit of purpose will require you to trust God every step of the way. It’s just that simple. The scripture says that we are to “…walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). This journey of life will require more dependence on God, not less.
I can relate to Jeremiah, because I had the same excuse. When God spoke to my heart to go into full-time ministry in 2007, I was so nervous. I was nervous because I was not a good public speaker, and I thought I did not have what it took to do what God was asking me to do. All I could see were my f laws. But what I found was that the more I trusted God and relied on His anointing, the less nervous I felt. The more I relied on His strength, the more my weakness faded away. His power made possible the things that I could not do before. Today, I speak to thousands and feel more comfortable than I ever thought I would. That’s only because of the grace of God. And if He did it for me, He can do it for you!
Sources
Strong’s, s.v. “Poiéma,” Greek #4161; https://biblehub.com/greek/4161.htm.
Benjamin Elisha Sawe, “Famous Artwork: The Mona Lisa,” WorldAtlas ( July 26, 2017); https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/famous-artwork-the-mona-lisa.html.
Mariana Custodio, “The Mona Lisa: What Makes It a Masterpiece?” (Aug 3, 2021); https:// marianacustodio.com/the-mona-lisa-what-makes-it-a-masterpiece.
Ibid.
A. Zelazko, “Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous?” Encyclopedia Britannica; https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-the-mona-lisa-so-famous.
