I heard a story on the radio today about a (famous) artist who creates “dot pictures” – millions of small dots placed on a canvas that ultimately make up a portrait. He has moved into the realm of what I call art with a purpose (see the entire story about him here). The particular project I heard about is “Dots for Jesus”. Each dot on the canvas represents an individual person - plain old Joes & Janes like me and you. You register for a dot (it’s free), and the only thing required of you is that you answer the question “Why Jesus?” I really want you to go read about it, so I’m not going to say any more…
BUT…
…it got me to thinking (yep – I do that a lot). What other things are there in this world that are done “for Jesus”? Well here are some of the things I found.
And my honest-to-God favorite:
Wow…look at how diverse that list is. I think that’s pretty cool! And I’m sure there are many more that I didn’t take the time to find.
There was a time when the only thing that I equated Jesus with was “church” – as in the building that you drag yourself to on Sunday because if you don’t you’re going to hell - THAT kind of church. I didn’t think of salvation really. I didn’t think of His love for me. I only thought about what I “had to do” in order to NOT go to hell.
But as I have grown spiritually, I have found that Jesus isn’t about “church”… Jesus isn’t about a building at all. Jesus is about THE CHURCH – THE PEOPLE – THE BODY OF CHRIST. It’s all about what we do IN HIS NAME to be Him to those around us who are hurting and broken. It’s about us going out and reaching people where they are.
In the coliseum, eyes riveted on the two in the ring…
Out on the road, even when others look at us with suspicious eyes (bikers could never be up to any good, right?)
In the courtroom, where justice in America becomes more and more skewed every day…
In the gym, where people are struggling to be healthier, not because they think of their body as the Lord’s temple, but because they don’t love who they are…
And so it goes….
The bible tells us that we are to be IN the world, but not OF the world. Jesus’ own prayer to the Father was not for our removal from this world, but protection while we are in it – God’s covering while we are here being the hands and feet of Jesus.
"I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15, NKJV)
I marvel at how in each of these situations one individual took the time to think about how he or she could BE Jesus to the world by simply doing what they love…or by using their past mistakes, hurts and tragedies to show others another, MUCH better way to live.
It inspires me to continually think about what I can do “for Jesus”.
What about you? What DO you do? What CAN you do? What WILL you do?
1 comment:
Cool post. I'm your new follower.
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