BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Everything you need to be what He designed you to be is already inside you. That’s why it’s very difficult to fit yourself into the mold of someone else. Satan tries to convince people to want to be something they weren’t designed to be. They look at someone else, thinking, They’re so talented. They’re so smart. I want to be this or I want to be that. Wanting to be something God hasn’t called you to be is an expression of a spirit of covetousness. He didn’t put things in you to make you like someone else; He put them in you to make you into His one-of-a-kind masterpiece. But unlike my unfinished creative projects, He will stick with you until you look like His original design. I’m so glad God won’t quit on us! We must grasp the truth in verse 16 and keep it in our thinking. It should shape and mold our choices in life. God didn’t only plan our general future, but He wrote every moment of every day for our entire life…before we were born! That is life-changing! A Good Plan for a Good Life Before a single day had passed, He looked at that plan and said, “This is good.” Look at Ephesians 2:10 again. God planned that we would not only do good works, but that He would lay out a good path for us to walk out. Remember that word good in Genesis 1? I have given much thought to His reasons for such an elaborate Creation. Why did He check His work so closely? Why did it have to be “good”? Why such attention to detail, and why so many different varieties of mammals, birds and fish? How many fish do you imagine are so deep in the ocean that mankind will never see them all without God’s help? How many species of dogs are there? How many kinds of birds do you think are in the world? What could God’s purpose be? One Christmas, I put a puppy in a box and gave him to my son, Max. He was a big, happy, wrestling retriever named Duke. Boys seem to prefer dogs you can roll around with. Most girls want something they can carry around. One type of dog wouldn’t do the job, so what did God do? He made different kinds and sizes. Why make flowers? Why make them beautiful? I can see only one reason for all of it—just because He loves you—because He wants you to enjoy it all. That’s the reason He took the time to step back and check His work. He created it all for the pleasure of His ultimate creation—you and me! It had to be good. * * * * * continues below * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * POINTS TO GET YOU THERE: 1. God is never random, and never off course. He planned your life before you were ever born; a plan that spans from start to finish just for you—a plan that He calls good. Eph. 2:10 2. You are a masterpiece, born into the good life God planned for you long ago. Ps. 139:13, 15-16 3. Since God has already seen your life from beginning to end, His work now is to help you live the life He has planned out and finished—to help you do the good works which He predestined for you. Ecc. 3:15 4. God is watching over the plan He designed. He’s working in you, giving you the desire and the power to paint the picture—for you to be what He designed you to be and do. Phil. 2:12-13 5. When you made Jesus the Lord of your life, you were born into the ultimate fulfillment of God’s great plan. Eph. 2:10 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Do you see in Ephesians how He described the plan He has for you? He planned you with the same intensity He used to plan all of creation—with the same attention to detail. He made sure it was good. You are a masterpiece…you are His pleasure…painted by God Himself. And when you made Jesus the Lord of your life, you were born into the ultimate fulfillment of His great plan. Ecclesiastes 3:11, "AMPC," tells us: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]….” That sounds like Psalm 139 to me. He has planted these things inside us. The only satisfaction we can find is to live out the plan as He designed it, to be the masterpiece He has painted us to be. Ecclesiastes 3:15, "AMPC," goes on to say, “That which is now already has been, and that which is to be already has been; and God seeks that which has passed by [so that history repeats itself].” In other words, God has already seen your life from beginning to end. His work now is to help you live the life He has planned out and finished—to help you do those good works which He predestined (planned beforehand) for you. The Finished Work We are His masterpiece…a painting that He has already painted, but hasn’t been painted yet. Confusing? Not really. Think about it like a paint-by-number set. Remember those? What is always on the box lid? A picture of the finished painting. Before you were ever born, God painted a picture of your life, like that box top. Your life is like the canvas, and He put inside you all the colors needed, along with His instructions—His Word. He knows every step it will take for you to be all He planned. He knows the end from the beginning. He’s already thought your life through and to Him, it’s already happened. Once you leave your mother’s womb He is there, helping you walk through each stage to bring you to that place He’s already painted for you. It is just like a paint-by-number picture…He created the painting but He’s given you the brush. You always hold the brush. 22 : BVOV

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