Redemption

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

Ten years ago, an artist simply named Banksy painted a simple painting named “Girl with the Red Balloon.” A black and white silhouette of a young girl releasing a red, heart shaped balloon. The artist also personally hand crafted the frame for his masterpiece. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when that very painting was auctioned off for a staggering $1.2 million dollars at a Southeby’s auction. What happened next, the moment the gavel dropped and the sale sealed, moved from painting to phenomenon.

Suddenly, the frame itself began to shred this million dollar canvas! To say the buyer, who remains unnamed to this day, was stunned is a gross understatement! Millions of dollars spent and shredded right before your eyes. The painting was only ½ destroyed when the shredder jammed and stopped. Later, the artist would call it a failure, as it was supposed to shred the entire painting – just as he had rehearsed ten years earlier. But the story doesn’t end in loss and destruction. The story moves to rebirth and redemption. 

The artist, renamed the piece from “Girl with a Red Balloon” to “Love is in the Bin.” Once renamed, everything changed. “Banksy didn't destroy an artwork in the auction, he created one," Alex Branczik, Sotheby's Head of Contemporary Art, Europe, said in a statement, calling it "the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction." The painting remains exactly the same as when the gavel fell. Visually, appearing destroyed and devalued. But, once the creator changed the name, the value rose when the perception shifted. The artist knew from the moment he created the masterpiece, that its destruction would come. Given the artist’s response, I believe he also knew of its redemption. Not elevated value in it's re-creation or reconstruction of image, but it's new creation by name. Reconstruction can come, but value is inherent by the Artist alone.

Banksy had years to think of a name, which I’m sure, was not chosen lightly. From “Girl…Balloon” to “Love…Bin” So many who release their hearts to risk relationship determine “love is in the bin” – or their heart is trashed – because someone else shredded them. Their perspective of their status blinds them from seeing that though they are given labels based on their statuses, their actual value is elevating, not descending. It may look like a landfill, but it’s actually recycling and re-purposing to a greater value!

We are created, with full knowledge by the Creator that destruction will come to our lives because our frames come with flaws. Unlike the painter, our shredders are planted by our first parents. No one is exempt, no matter what their image portrays. Each one has a heart and will know destruction to some degree. Only the Creator can give a new name. The creation cannot name itself, though it may desperately desire to. Only the Creator can bring redemption, even if the image still looks like destruction. Our redemption came with the release of our heart, a soul purchased, a shredded canvas of the artist himself, and the new name. What initially appears to be destroyed is actually a creation phenomenon.

The Artist took the greatest risk in creating a masterpiece that he knew the frame would destroy. His risk isn’t in the destruction, it’s in the acceptance of His planned redemption. The ultimate Artist of All, Elohim, risk was not in the creation of earth or humans. His risk is that his beloved heart released into this little girl would accept her new name. Know her name, know her identity, know her value – regardless of what the world sees, labels, or values. He knows her choice and her destiny while He sculpts her to heart releasing to the wind. He knows that all have been offered a new name and new life, and few will accept. He draws each one, in intimacy and with a heart, as self-portraits. Let Us Create man in Our Image.