You Are God’s Masterpiece. But Satan Has One Too.

A work of art is labeled a masterpiece when it is widely considered to be among the greatest works of an artist’s career.  Most famous artists have at least one of their works identified as such.  But did you know God also created one?  Take a look at what Paul wrote in 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.

Before Michelangelo conceived of what he would do with the Sistine Chapel or da Vinci thought about the Mona Lisa, God conceived of and then created the greatest masterpiece of all.

It’s not the sun, moon, stars and planets.  It’s not the earth or your human body.  It’s His Bride, His Temple, His Body, His Family – of which you are a part.

Everything He’s done and is doing is in service to His ultimate purpose of completing His masterpiece. It’s been completed and is being completed.

It’s important to note Paul’s clear communication here that WE are His masterpiece.  While each of us individually are His image, God’s ultimate Masterpiece is a corporate community of His images created for His presence to dwell in and through.

The world Satan’s mind conceived

But it’s also important to note that God has an enemy that also took advantage of the opportunity humans gave him to start and continue to create his own masterpiece to oppose God’s.  Here’s how Watchman Nee puts it in the book Love Not The World…

“The world” is Satan’s masterpiece, and we have thought of him as directing all his strength and ingenuity into causing it to flourish. To what end? Surely to capture men’s allegiance and draw them to himself. He has one object: to establish his own dominion in human hearts worldwide.

Satan’s masterpiece is the system his mind conceived for how humans would create order, stability and progress.  It’s behind every human institution, and it’s more dangerous to our health than we’ll maybe ever fully realize.

Getting used by the world

Worldlings are helping to create this masterpiece whether they know it or not, because the natural self is powerless against its pull. 

New humans (aka Christians) can be caught contributing as well if they’re not powerful enough. They do this when things in the world (and also avoiding them) control their time, energy, attention and money.

Instead of using the things in the world to advance the Kingdom, they get used by them to be distracted from advancing the Kingdom. The only way to take back control is by becoming more powerful than the cravings the world ignites. It’s to turn the tables.

Evaporating its power

Nee goes on to say…

Put very simply, Satan’s power in the world is everywhere. Yet wherever men and women walk in the Spirit, sensitive to the anointing they have from God, that power of his just evaporates.

The power is not obtained by avoiding the world. It’s found in abiding in the Lord (John 15:4). It’s not obtained by keeping moral checklists. It’s found in the soul being infused with heat of His Spirit that evaporates away the power the things of the world can have over a human.

As you go through this process, you’d be wise to remain mindful and careful to the real danger the world poses. Without this healthy “respect,” you’ll find yourself losing these power struggles before you even realize it.

Keep watch while humbly conceding you are liable to have weaknesses. Continue to abide in Him and experience the progressive disappearance of the world’s pull on you.

This is the eighth post in the Enemy Blueprints series. Go here to read the rest of the posts in the series.