So here's my latest canvas. It's a scripture that ive had on my mind and my heart for awhile. It came up again while watching 'Courageous'. And i thought i'd paint it.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:14
But what does that actually mean? What does that look like played out in life. I mean: It sounds good, its poetic, heroic, & catchy. I wonder if it means abandoning home comforts for a foreign mission field, or can it possibly mean living a normal life.
I don't consider myself religious. Religion to me is a set of rituals you do over and over, losing the meaning or the emotion behind the actions. I have a relationship with God, and also Jesus, who is my Saviour, and who laid down his human life for me to have my life.
I attend church regulary. For teaching, inspiration, fellowship. But most of all, because its my favourite place to be in the whole world. I look forward to Sundays. I feel out of sorts when i don't attend. I acknowledge that God doesn't live in church. 'Church' isn't the building. Church is the people that go. People that have become my family.
If i didn't ever go to Sunday worship again, i fully believe God wouldn't disown me.
So church attendance isn't serving God.
I wonder if its all the little things that make up daily life, and if so, i know i have to pick up my game. There are great big grey areas that need some serious light shining into them, before they fall into line with serving God.
The children, were interested in what i was painting, and when explained...balked at the word SERVE. It is an 'outdated' word in a me-first society. Media will tell you, 'Do what you want to feel happy. Thats the most important thing. Your choices aren't mine, but they are equally valid.'
In that climate, servanthood has no place.
The bible calls us to lose our life, in order to gain it. To empty ourselves out in order to fill ourselves. To offer the other cheek to a person who just slapped our face. Its a shocking revelation. It was when Jesus announced it. It is now.
But, the truth of it is undeniable. In a culture where depression is the norm, Putting ourselves first is not working for us.
Solomon, the wisest man ever to have lived, on his death bed states' Vanities of vanities!' and then chastises himself for his obsession with material possession. Solomon claims to have never denied himself a single pleasure.
I tried to explain to my son, that perhaps serving God means not walking away from a teacher when they are talking to you, deferring to the biblical principal of honoring those in authority. For another son, it meant getting baptised, publicly taking your stand for God.
I think it may mean different things for different people at different times. And i hope my life reflects a servanthood for Christ. I know that when the race is done, i hope to hear my Father tell me, Well Done good and faithful servant, in whom i am well pleased. And i hope my family strives for that goal too.
