You are
the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read, and your life is under scrutiny
every day. What do others learn from you? Do they see an accurate picture of
your God? via
John MacArthur
In our study one of the questions we ask ourselves weekly is “What
can we learn from our Bible Buddies?” Talk about being under scrutiny! Their
lives were written down for millions of people to read over the centuries. I’m
sure some of them if they were given a choice would have asked to have some of
the details of their lives left out but they didn’t get that option. All they
did and shouldn’t have done is there for all to see and read.
The stories of our lives will never make the Bible but don’t ever
doubt that how we live our lives may turn out to be the only form of a “Bible”
some unbelievers will ever read. When we
make the decision to follow in Jesus’ footsteps it is our job to work daily on
painting that accurate picture of Christ in our lives. It’s our task to live in
such a manner that when people see us and how we behave they see Jesus.
Even Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”
Is that true with our own lives? How our picture of God turns out depends on
us. It’s our task to work at it constantly until we get it where it needs to
be. It may take some backtracking, changes, touch ups here and there but it’s
something we can’t give up on.
Back in the 80’s when I was learning to oil paint one of the
assignments in class was to paint a picture of the ocean. It was the hardest
assignment I ever had to do. No matter how hard I tried it just didn’t seem
like it was working out right. It looked nothing like the other students and
definitely was never close to what the teacher painted. Finally after seeing me struggle to get it
right the teacher finally came over to where I was. From there she took over my
paintbrush and brought to life the canvas of assorted colors I was working on.
Someday Jesus will do the same for us as our Teacher but until
then class is still in. As we attend class and struggle with getting the
picture of Christ right we need to be willing to hand over our paintbrush. Hand
it over to Christ in order for Him to bring to life the canvas of our lives. In
our journey there will be times of good examples and bad samples but in the end
we need to all be telling the same story.
In the different translations of the Bible the difference
between them can be changing a “thee” to a “thou” or “maketh” to “make” but
they still all should come out with the same accurate picture of Christ for us
to portray. Same with living as an
example of Christ the only difference between one Christian to another should
be the way they talk, the depth of their relationship with the Lord, what their
best spiritual fruit is, or the extent of their gift from God.
In the end when the painting is completed we should all be
painting the same picture. A picture that others can learn from on what Christ
is like. If asked, “what can I learn from the Bible buddy in my life?” we need
to make sure there is something there others can learn from. We had the privilege
of learning from others and our lives should be no different. The picture of
Christ has been passed down through many generations, the portrait is now in
our hands let us pass it on the best way we can in good examples set forth that
leads others to Christ.
It’s our turn to pass the baton, let’s do it well. Let's portray Him well.
© 2012 Karen Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes
2 comments:
Indeed, Karen, may we portray Him well. blessings to you - Marsha
Wow....the imagery you shared through your post was powerful and mindful!
It's true...what are we painting of Him?
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