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Daily Wisdom
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The Carpenter's Eye - October 23, 2008

We had been shopping for the place where God wants us to build the radio studio we so desperately needed. And we were looking at a possible location - a big barn of a room with a high ceiling and totally bare. Well, I saw a big, bare room. But not Kasey. He's a carpenter. And he started talking about this wall here and that partition there - the control room in that corner, where the doors would be, how we could soundproof the floor - it was amazing! He was seeing all kinds of things in that room that I sure couldn't see! But, then, that's the great thing about carpenters!

I think that's how Jesus looks at you. After all, He's a carpenter, you know. His earthly father Joseph was one and Jesus grew up with a carpenter's skills - and a carpenter's eye - to see what someone could become not just what they are.

The blueprint is given to us in our word for today from the Word of God, Ephesians 2:10. And it is an eye-opener, really, as to who you really are and why you're here. "We are God's workmanship." You are no random assembly of molecules - you are a handmade, one-of-a-kind masterpiece creation of Almighty God. You may not have been treated like you're that valuable - but that's who you really ARE. And your Creator is the One who says so. Now, here's what the whole statement says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Now when Jesus looks at you, it's like my friend the carpenter looking at that empty room. He sees what that room could be after his skilled hands are finished renewing it. Jesus knows the masterpiece you were created to become . . . the difference you were created to make . . . the value you are created to have. That's what He sees. Maybe other people have only seen the bare room. And maybe you have been made to feel pretty worthless . . . incompetent . . . unloved . . . unworthy. But they don't see what Jesus sees - what you were born to be.

And here's why you may have missed knowing how much you really are worth. You're missing the One who GAVE you your worth. You're missing Jesus. The Bible says that we have marked up this masterpiece God made with our self-centered living - God calls it sin. And our sin has built a wall between us and the God we were made by and made for. So, we're cut off from the One who loves and values us most. So much that He thought you were worth sending His Son to die for!

And you will never really know how valuable you really are until you open your heart to the One who loved you enough to die for you. You and I did the sinning. Jesus did the dying. And you don't have to spend one more day away from the One who made you to be a masterpiece. The One who sees you through His Carpenter's eye - and sees one He created with His hands, paid for with His blood, and one He wants to forgive, restore, and renew.

But it's your move now. He made His on the cross. Now you have two choices - put your trust in Him to be your own Savior from your own sin - or tell Him, "No thanks, Jesus. I'll just settle for more of the same."

Today's Daily Wisdom is written by Ron Hutchcraft, based on his popular "A Word With You" broadcast (Available in transcripts or RealAudio format.) Ron Hutchcraft Ministries has been on-line with GCN since February, 1996, providing practical answers to real life issues.

Copyright �?Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.