You Are God’s Masterpiece

Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people. — Exodus 30:32-33

One of the greatest gifts that my parents gave me was the belief that God made me exactly as I should be. They taught me that my job in life is not to be like anyone else—but to be the best version of myself. Whenever I got too caught up in my personal weaknesses, they reminded me that God gave me my own talents and treasures and to focus on those blessings.

When we look at other people, it’s tempting to think that they are somehow more ideal than we are. Someone always looks better. Another is more successful in business. Someone else, the seemingly perfect parent. There is always someone who seems to be more talented or gifted than we are. However, God doesn’t want us to go around looking at how He made other people. He wants us to look at how He made us. We are each “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) with unique gifts and abilities.

In this Scripture, we read that God directed Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons with sacred oil. Then, God specified that the sacred oil cannot be poured on anyone else’s head and also that no one is permitted to make a copy of that sacred oil. That anointing was intended exclusively for Aaron and his sons.

In the same way, God has sacred oil that is intended for us alone. We are all anointed for our specific purposes. When God created us, He wasn’t interested in another version of something He had already created. We are each a unique masterpiece, created by the ultimate Creator Himself.

Tragically, some of us go through life as “copies.” Yet, we all know that originals are more valuable than knockoffs. We need to embrace the person who God created us to be and rejoice in the blessing of being His masterpiece.