Would you deface

a precious work of art?

Suppose you were to visit the Musée du Louvre in Paris and could gain access to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Would you spray paint a mustache and goatee onto the portrait?

If you were in Rome and could gain access to Michelangelo's David, would you grab hammer and chisel and proceed to carve your impressions on this incredible sculpture?

If you had visited ancient Greece and came upon the beautiful sculpture of Aphrodite, more commonly known as Venus de Milo, generally attributed to Alexandrus of Antioch, would you have broken off her arms, as someone did 2,000 years ago?

Now, suppose the artist were God, and the art were his masterpiece... a self-portrait, of sorts. A sculpture, which, as we are told in Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Then he gave this sculpture life, intelligence, reason. Would you deface His work of art?

Many people do. Recently I sat at our City's open market observing the passing crowd. Obesity was just the starter at defacing God's art. Slovenly appearance and unattractive attire were common. A slumped, lazy posture often was added.

Recently, basketball great Shaquille O'Neal recorded a TV commercial for some sort of body lotion. In that commercial, O'Neal read the line, "You can't improve on perfection but you can rub lotion on it!" I loved that line, that attitude! The human body is a miracle of perfection. Yes, all living things are miraculous, but only humans can build skyscrapers, fly to the moon, write great books and compose symphonies. Only humans were created in God's own image!

Before you leave home tomorrow, step in front of a mirror and ask yourself to judge if you are defacing God's finest work of art. If you agree that you are, decide what you are going to do about it.