Upon entering the auditorium this weekend at Epic Church, we were greeted by an enormous blank painter’s canvas. During each of our three services, a different artist would create a colorful interpretation during the moment of worship. Building upon the other’s work, each brush stroke complimented the musical notes to form an intricate cacophony of artistic tribute to the ultimate Creator.
It was during this beautiful expression of veneration that I realized a serious problem in my relationship with Christ.
I had created God in my own image, instead of allowing Him to create me in His.
You may be familiar with the scientific idea of individuals being predominantly ‘left brain’ or ‘right brain’ oriented. According to this theory, those subject primarily to the left side of their brain tend to be more verbal, logical, and methodical. Being linear, this person will tend to place ideas and issues in a chronological order.
On the other hand, someone dominated by the right side of their cranium tends to be more imaginative and inventive. According to an article by Michael Pitek III, these creative types look “at the whole picture and quickly seeks to determine the spatial relationships of all the parts as they relate to the whole. This component of the brain is not concerned with things falling into patterns because of prescribed rules. On the contrary, the right brain seems to flourish dealing with complexity, ambiguity and paradox.”
The dilemma that I was confronted with on Sunday is that my view of God and the idea of obedience to Him fell almost entirely under the command of my left brained ideology. For all of my belief and bravado to the contrary, I had placed the Almighty, All encompassing God in a nice, convenient package that I could contain and control.
The Message paraphrase of Romans 11:33-36 says:
Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell Him what to do? Anyone who has done Him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from Him; Everything happens through Him; Everything ends up in Him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.
God is not governed by the left or right hemisphere of His mind. He is concurrently creative and calculating, rational and revelatory. When we believe we have His means and methods completely figured out, God will usually perform a complete one-eighty on us as a reminder that His ways and thoughts are higher than our own.
That gentle reminder on Sunday was simultaneously convicting and comforting. Not only is this incredible God that we serve infinitely beyond any box we would assign Him to, this truth reminds us that in whatever situation we face God’s unfathomable power, wisdom, and resources are creatively painting a beautiful masterpiece in and with our lives.
There is absolutely nothing going on in your life right now that has not been filtered through the Master Artist’s hands. Each victory and defeat, struggle and sacrifice are part of an incredible tapestry that God is using to make us into His own personal magnum opus.
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. Ephesians 2:10
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