THE PAINTING AND THE FRAME

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them – Ephesians 2:10

“Imagine your life as a piece of art. The FRAME consists of your personality, your physical characteristics, and your gifts and abilities. …many…instead of thanking God for the frame He’s given them, spend their time trying to change it.

…Does someone else’s frame look more inviting than yours? Perhaps you envy a woman whose frame is studded with jewels or decked with flowers, yet you don’t know how cumbersome her frame is. Pray that God enables you to see the wisdom behind the way He framed you.

Now, let’s consider the artwork within the frame. The art represents an emerging picture of who you are becoming. God establishes the background, then sweeps His brushstrokes across the canvas of your life in a desire to create a MASTERPIECE. God invites you to cooperate with Him to form the picture. If you yield to His artistry, the character of Christ will be reflected through the picture of your life.

Stand back and look at the picture. What do you see reflected? Do you see the character of Christ, or do you see frantic activity? Do you try to paint with colours of character or colours of accomplishment? Too often in our lives, accomplishment and doing overshadow growth and becoming. We frantically scurry around, trying to paint the picture with our activities, but our BEING must be settled before our DOING.

...What are men and women praised for in the Scriptures? For their INTERNAL CHARACTER. God wants us to focus on becoming like Christ, on shaping our character into His image. This is the picture He wants to paint. We, however, tend to focus on the frame. God says our focus is distorted.

When Samuel was evaluating Jesse’s sons in order to select the next king of Israel, God cautioned him, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Unlike us, God’s focus is on our inner qualities…Peter emphasized this inner beauty when he described what is important to God: Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on jewelry, or beautiful clothes, or hair arrangement. Be beautiful inside, in your hearts, with the lasting charm of a gentle and quiet spirit which is so precious to God (1 Peter 3:3-4, TLB).”