"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."
Isaiah 64:8 ESV
As a child I remember watching Bob Ross on the big television my parents had in their living room. I remember watching him turn a blank canvas into a masterpiece in the blink of an eye and I always wanted to paint like him. He made it look so simple.
David and I decided to take up oil painting a few years ago so together we could create our own versions of the world. I have found painting to be very enjoyable, relaxing, and a great way to spend time with David. However, we learned very fast that Bob’s style of painting wasn’t as simple as he made it look.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but it was in the mess after we painted one day where I found a message from God.
After the fun was over I stood at the kitchen sink looking over a pile of dirty paint brushes. Some with bristles stuck together, others were full of paint, and all had to soak in cleaner made for oil paint. In a perfect world the cleaner would separate the oil paint from the bristles and it would just wash out of the brush but I have learned that caring for the paint brushes is an art all in itself.
I had four brushes that dried up from another time we painted and I wasn’t sure if they would get clean. A normal person would have just tossed them in the trash and bought new ones but I was determined to clean and restore the paint brushes I bought and paid for. One by one I worked the soap in the stiff bristles and tried to wash the paint out. It was wash, rinse, repeat, until finally I was able to condition them.
During the process of cleaning the stiff brushes I couldn’t help but think about how I was like that stiff, used, useless brush that nobody would take the time to clean and would just toss it in the trash.
I think Christians are like paint brushes in the hands of God. We try to paint our lives on our own then end up painting a big mess and our hearts harden much like the old bristles.
Thankfully, God doesn’t throw us away when our hearts harden. He saves us because he bought and paid for us with a price, the price of his one and only son Jesus. When an artist cleans the paint brushes, the brushes become clean and soft, but the paint stains the hands of the artist.
Our sins stained the hands that never sinned, God washes our sins away with the blood of Jesus and makes us new. When we become new he takes us in his hands and paints a new life for us in the book of life. Life as a Christian is much like the life of a regularly used paint brush, wash, rinse, repeat. How beautiful it is to be a brush in the hand of the ultimate painter who paints all the wondrous things in the sky.
Will you allow God to paint with your life? Put the brush in his hand and find out what masterpiece is hiding inside you.
"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
Psalm 139:14 ESV