Ephesians 2:10
New King James Version (NKJV)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
It is hard to truly make a spiritual change in your life until you see yourself as God sees you. It is almost impossible to change or fix something without first knowing where the flaw is or what is broke. We need to remember that we are created in the perfect image of Christ. At the very core of our spiritual being, we ARE perfect because GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES!!!!
In the verse referenced above, we are called His workmanship. Webster's defines it as something effected or produced; the skill of a workman or the quality imparted to something in the process of making it. Some versions of the Bible use the work masterpiece or handiwork in it's place. From the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 1:26-27) we are told we were created in His image. This means as a workmanship, or masterpiece, we have been imparted with the qualities of Jesus since we were made in His image.
With that in mind, I decided to find out what the qualities of Jesus were. After a little bit of research, I found there are over 200 bible verses about the character and quality of Jesus. To boil it down to something simple, we just need to look at the Fruits of the Spirit.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
To reveal the image of Christ in us and to expose the fruits of the spirit in our lives it involves making changes, restoring us to the perfect spiritual being we can be. Now I don't believe any of us will ever see that this side of heaven, but we are instructed to keep striving for it and live like Christ.
While praying over this today, the painting ‘Ecce Homo’ by the artist Elias Garcia Martinez,that had been displayed in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church at Borja near Zaragoza for 120 year and then destroyed by painting over the original image, kept coming to mind.
The artist was a local and this was his masterpiece. His family cherished it though it had no monetary value. The 80 year old amateur art restorer thought she could help restore the picture to it's once original brilliance. The picture is of Christ with a crown of thorns and clearly had worn over time, and the image that had been painted had faded and collected years of dirt and dust in the very pores of it's fabric.
Art restoration involves tediously removing all the dirt from the pores and crevices of the painting and then carefully added paint (called stippling) to match up to the original. Some say that restoration is wrong because while the intention is good, the masterpiece could be destroyed however, Michelangelo's statue of David has been cleaned several times with no damage. The "Ecco Homo" was destroyed almost beyond recognition b/c the layers of dirt and grime and the correct process of added the image back to the canvas was not done.
In many ways, we are like an old masterpiece that needs to be restored. We need to remove layers of sin from our spiritual body and then begin to add the image back onto the canvas. We can do this by practicing and live by the Fruits of the spirit, to live more like Christ did.
Love: agape - self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return and does not consider the worth of the object (see John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16)
Joy: spirit given expression that flourished best in hard times. It is not a human based emotion that comes and goes, calm delight (see Nehemiah 8:10, Luke 10:21, John 15:11)
Peace: tranquility, a state of rest that comes from seeking God (John 14:27, 1 Thess 5:23, 2 Thess 3:16, 2 Cor 13:11)
"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God no matter what the conflict." - anonymous
Patience: constancy, perseverance,, steadfastness (see Heb 10:36, Heb 6:12 James 5:10-11)
Kindness: is not being nice, in contrast to nice which is agreeable, kindness is acting for the good of people regardless of what they do, sweetness of disposition or gentleness when dealing with others. In plain words, the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience. (See Rom 2:4, Rom 11:22, Eph 2:7, 2 Cor 6:6)
Goodness: state or quality of good, moral excellence, the best part of anything (see 2 Thes 1:11, Titus 3:4, Heb 6:5)
Faithfulness: committing oneself to something or someone, requires personal resolve to not wonder away (see Isaiah 25:1, Rome 3:2-4, Jeremiah 31:14
Gentleness: a disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil, unpretentious, having your passions under control (see Sam 22:36, psalm 18:35, 2Cor 10:1)
There are so many more qualities of Jesus that a book could be written about them...Oh wait, there was, it is called the Bible!! Read the Bible to discover more about who Christ was and how we are to be like Him. As Christians, we are to live by these qualities in our everyday life.
It is hard to truly make a spiritual change in your life until you see yourself as God sees you. It is almost impossible to change or fix something without first knowing where the flaw is or what is broke. We need to remember that we are created in the perfect image of Christ. At the very core of our spiritual being, we ARE perfect because GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES!!!!
In the verse referenced above, we are called His workmanship. Webster's defines it as something effected or produced; the skill of a workman or the quality imparted to something in the process of making it. Some versions of the Bible use the work masterpiece or handiwork in it's place. From the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 1:26-27) we are told we were created in His image. This means as a workmanship, or masterpiece, we have been imparted with the qualities of Jesus since we were made in His image.
With that in mind, I decided to find out what the qualities of Jesus were. After a little bit of research, I found there are over 200 bible verses about the character and quality of Jesus. To boil it down to something simple, we just need to look at the Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23
English Standard Version (ESV)
To reveal the image of Christ in us and to expose the fruits of the spirit in our lives it involves making changes, restoring us to the perfect spiritual being we can be. Now I don't believe any of us will ever see that this side of heaven, but we are instructed to keep striving for it and live like Christ.
While praying over this today, the painting ‘Ecce Homo’ by the artist Elias Garcia Martinez,that had been displayed in the Sanctuary of Mercy Church at Borja near Zaragoza for 120 year and then destroyed by painting over the original image, kept coming to mind.
The artist was a local and this was his masterpiece. His family cherished it though it had no monetary value. The 80 year old amateur art restorer thought she could help restore the picture to it's once original brilliance. The picture is of Christ with a crown of thorns and clearly had worn over time, and the image that had been painted had faded and collected years of dirt and dust in the very pores of it's fabric.
Art restoration involves tediously removing all the dirt from the pores and crevices of the painting and then carefully added paint (called stippling) to match up to the original. Some say that restoration is wrong because while the intention is good, the masterpiece could be destroyed however, Michelangelo's statue of David has been cleaned several times with no damage. The "Ecco Homo" was destroyed almost beyond recognition b/c the layers of dirt and grime and the correct process of added the image back to the canvas was not done.
In many ways, we are like an old masterpiece that needs to be restored. We need to remove layers of sin from our spiritual body and then begin to add the image back onto the canvas. We can do this by practicing and live by the Fruits of the spirit, to live more like Christ did.
Love: agape - self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return and does not consider the worth of the object (see John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16)
Joy: spirit given expression that flourished best in hard times. It is not a human based emotion that comes and goes, calm delight (see Nehemiah 8:10, Luke 10:21, John 15:11)
Peace: tranquility, a state of rest that comes from seeking God (John 14:27, 1 Thess 5:23, 2 Thess 3:16, 2 Cor 13:11)
"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God no matter what the conflict." - anonymous
Patience: constancy, perseverance,, steadfastness (see Heb 10:36, Heb 6:12 James 5:10-11)
Kindness: is not being nice, in contrast to nice which is agreeable, kindness is acting for the good of people regardless of what they do, sweetness of disposition or gentleness when dealing with others. In plain words, the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience. (See Rom 2:4, Rom 11:22, Eph 2:7, 2 Cor 6:6)
Goodness: state or quality of good, moral excellence, the best part of anything (see 2 Thes 1:11, Titus 3:4, Heb 6:5)
Faithfulness: committing oneself to something or someone, requires personal resolve to not wonder away (see Isaiah 25:1, Rome 3:2-4, Jeremiah 31:14
Gentleness: a disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil, unpretentious, having your passions under control (see Sam 22:36, psalm 18:35, 2Cor 10:1)
There are so many more qualities of Jesus that a book could be written about them...Oh wait, there was, it is called the Bible!! Read the Bible to discover more about who Christ was and how we are to be like Him. As Christians, we are to live by these qualities in our everyday life.
No comments:
Post a Comment