Canvas for Your Name

“Canvas for Your Name" is the newest song from Definitive Worship, our worship team here at Family First Church in Spring Hill, FL. Our prayer is that through this song and through our worship you can encounter God in your own way. Just this morning we uploaded an acoustic live music video of this song and wanted to share with you our heart behind it!

This song was written inspired by our sermon series "Signs of Wonder". In this series, we have been learning the 7 miracles in the book of John that are referred to as “signs”. Signs are important because they are miracles that Jesus performed, but they each had a message behind them! Each sign showed the people something about Jesus that was a new revelation of who He was. John 9 is the story of the healing of the man born blind. In verse 2, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" In verse 3 Jesus answers, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."

See, back then many religious leaders taught the people that if there was an illness or something wrong with them, then it was God’s punishment or judgment upon them. But here Jesus reveals that this blind man didn’t do anything that would have caused him to be born blind, and neither did his parents. This man's purpose on the earth was simply to be used by Jesus as a testimony and example of a miracle. The reason he was born blind, and ultimately the reason for his suffering or hardship, was so that Jesus could be glorified through it!

Our lives should be lived the very same way! Jesus wants to do a miracle through our lives, using every hardship and every point of suffering to turn it around for His glory. We are merely the avenues through which other people can encounter Him like never before. Our lives are literally canvases for God to paint and create whatever picture He wants people to see through our testimonies. Our purpose on this earth is for God to pick us up, mold us, shape us, and form us into His masterpieces so other people can see who He really is!

And all of that starts with surrender. One of the most powerful lines in this song is the confession and prayer of the bridge. “I lay myself at Your feet, make me Your masterpiece. My life to display the works of Your name, Jesus.” Once we realize that our very purpose is to be used by God, then we’ll surrender to whatever He has in store for us. Whether that’s through trial, hardship, or illness we will count it all joy for the sake of bringing others closer to God!

Just as Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 (NIV), “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

The very fact that God wants to use our lives as His works of art is a beautiful and glorious thing. It’s very humbling, actually. That the God of the universe, wants to show His own love and character through humanity. Every work of art reveals something about it’s Creator. All of our lives and in all of our testimonies of salvation and redemption, God is revealing something new about who He is. Our lives are all miracles with His message. Proclaim it boldly!

Verse 1:

Could I be in such a place, that You find me along Your way

Lead my path, to cross with Yours, God

Love that changes water to wine, love that raises dead to life

What about me could ever catch Your eye?

Chorus:

Oh how sweet it is, to stand before my King

See the things You see, through Your work in me

A canvas for Your name, for all the world to see

Your saturating, never-fading name

Verse 2:

I was blind but now I see, when your grace reached out for me

Ignites my soul to burn for You, my King

Light that changes night to day, light that chases dark away

Could I stand in the glory of your name?

Bridge:

I lay myself at your feet, make me Your masterpiece

My life to display the works of Your name, Jesus