Dr. Chris Irving, Pastor

 

In just a few more days, children all over the world will open gifts that will certainly be brand new on many levels. New technology with new designs, or the latest new superhero will rule the day and suddenly the toys from last year are no more. Some toys will become junk.

 

I read a story recently about a man named Billy Taylor. Billy is a junkyard specialist. He goes to junkyards to find stuff that other folks have thrown away, discarded, and considered broken or worthless. Billy Taylor brings it back to his garage and turns the junk into contemporary art pieces, which he then sells for upwards of five thousand dollars a piece. He goes and finds junk that is worthless in everybody else’s eyes and then turns it into a masterpiece. When Billy Taylor looks at the junk, he sees more than meets the eye. He sees a masterpiece in the making. He takes things that are worthless and makes them into something beautiful.

 

Is that not what God did by sending Jesus into the world so that if we believe in Him, we perish not, but gain eternal life? Isn’t that the Good Shepherd looking for the lost sheep? You might feel worthless at times, or even before you met Jesus, but once you meet Him, even if you were in the junkyard of life, He’s able to go into that yard, save you, and turn you into a valuable masterpiece.
Have you opened the gift of faith in Jesus Christ? The gift that takes our junk and makes it into treasure? Celebrate God’s love today by thanking Him for sending Jesus to save us from our junk filled sinful selves and creating us, in Christ, to be His masterpiece. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”