But they will in a minute

by John Fischer

I recently heard the story of a young kindergartener who, when asked by her teacher what she was going to create for her art project proudly announced she was going to draw a picture of God. To which the teacher announced, "But no one knows what God looks like." "They will in a minute," came the bold reply.

She's right, you know. She's about to paint what God looks like to her, in her imagination, and she will be right. Not that God is relative to everyone's idea of Him, but that He is so multifaceted that no one picture can capture all of Him, nor can all of the pictures together make Him up. She is also right about the fact that we bring God to people, not only because are we are in His image, but because He dwells in us by faith.

What I love most assuredly about this statement is its audacity. "Oh, they'll know all right, because I am about to reveal Him to them." Would that we were all that confident about our ability to represent Christ to the world. This was a major part of Christ's role while on earth—to represent God to the world. "He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Our task is no less significant. If part of Jesus' purpose was to reveal God to us, part of ours is to reveal Jesus to others. "Christ in you, the hope of glory," Paul wrote. What a great thing to focus on as we prepare to do anything—go anywhere—see anybody… "No one knows what God looks like?" we can say to ourselves, "But they will in a minute…"

Committing to Each Other
2008/07/31
by Jon Walker

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)
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Truth teaches that the quality of our friendships is more important than the quantity. We don’t need a lot of friends in this life, but we do need a few good ones.

By moving beyond superficial acquaintance with specific Jesus-ones, we become friends who are closer than family (Proverbs 18:24).

This requires considerably more commitment than our standard “to each his own” approach to getting along. Instead, we agree there will be “none of this going off and doing your own thing” (Colossians 3:15 MSG).

We see each other as individuals, unique creations of God and vessels of God’s grace. We “develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results” when we “do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor” (James 3:18 MSG).

Although this describes what a family should be, it’s a stone, cold fact that many people find closer relationships among friends than their blood relatives. But there is a different type of blood relative, sisters and brothers who are grafted together through the blood of Jesus Christ.
His power within us gives us the ability to become companions who stick together closer than a brother, or sister.