Leviticus 22:32
“Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,”
In a small northeastern city in Spain, a lady noticed a picture of a scourged Christ on the wall of a small church was looking faded and needed to be revitalized. This well-intentioned lady took a brush in hand and began to do her best to restore the masterpiece that was painted on this wall many years before. Sadly, this lady was not the artists that she thought she was. By the time she was done, she had turned a masterpiece into a bloated face. This lady, though she had great intentions, had ruined the masterpiece.
Many Christians do the same thing that this woman did to the masterpiece. They take a brush in their hand and try to change the masterpiece of their life only to ruin what the Master put together. You see, every person is God’s masterpiece. What we may consider flaws are truly a part of the masterpiece God put together. We must be careful that we don’t ruin what God has put together.
The verse above says, “Neither shall ye profane my holy name…” The word “profane” means “to wound.” In other words, God is saying to His people that we must be careful that we don’t do something that will wound or soil His name among the world.
God then goes further in this verse to tell us that God’s name is as clean as our lives. He says, “…I will be hallowed among the children of Israel…” The word “hallow” or “hallowed” means to make clean. God says that He is the one Who makes us clean which coincides with 1 John 1:9. Notice the phrase, “I am the LORD which hallow you.” God is saying He is the one Who cleans us.
This verse is teaching us that because He is the One Who cleans us from our sin, we are to live such a life that we don’t soil what He has done. He is saying, “Don’t ruin the masterpiece.” Many Christians have ruined God’s masterpiece by taking God’s brush into their own hand and changing what He did in their life. He had a will for their life, but they didn’t like the will, so they took the brush and painted their own will only to ruin the masterpiece. God masterfully put into the lives of Christians trials and hardships to make the masterpiece better, but they took their own brush and complained, griped and ran from what He was trying to do in their life only to ruin the masterpiece. There are times when God put the masterpiece of the Christian’s life on display only to see the Christian take the brush in hand and ruin the masterpiece with sin.
Friend, be careful about ruining God’s masterpiece. Your life is God’s masterpiece, and you are not to do anything that could wound or soil what He is doing in your life. Let me encourage you to daily be careful that you don’t try to take the brush from God’s hand and try to paint your own picture. Let God do His work in your life. Accept everything He sends your way, for He is the Master painter Who knows that if you will yield to His brush that your life will become a masterpiece that will help many people see the Master.