.jpg)
[The following post is the first in a series of weekly posts designed to inspire and challenge through the stories and thoughts from the Revolutionary Media book, "Dear World". Dear World is available for purchase through Blurb, and by November 1st, 2009 will be available for digital download by donation.]
As artists, we invest a great deal of time and energy to develop our skills. In fact, the majority of our time is centered around building of techniques and developing of tools to be "Successful" in our art. We hunt. We practice. We plan. We play. We collaborate.
And yet sometimes, it's easy to forget the one thing that matters most. We may have talent, skills, success, and achievement, but in the end, none of those things really matter. Strip everything in life down to the most basic thing and we are left with this:
Love God.
And love others.
It's cool to be an artist. Creative opportunities. Dynamic impact. But being an artist is n.o.t. the point of your life or my life. The point of life is to be a l.o.v.e.r. A lover of God, and a lover of others. Unless your skills are tools to love God and others, your work, effort, and talents will be for naught.
This may seem harsh. But the passage from I Corinthians 13 details this very clearly. If we have love, our work, our life, are for nothing.
Why is it so easy to forget that the core of life really is all about love? Why is it so difficult to strip everything down and focus on this for even just a little bit?
What if we were to identify ourselves - not as artists, or photographers, graphic designers or portraitists....What if we identified ourselves as lovers? Lovers of God, and lovers of others?
How deep would our love be? How unconditional? How true? How enduring?
"Then the King will say to those on His right, COME, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me...then the righteous will answer, "Lord, when did we?"...And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these...you did it to me..." Mt. 25:33-40
Is there any other passage that illustrates a more authentic display of love? Through grit and grime, cold and hardship, True Lovers continue to love undeterred. Clearly we shall be judged of Jesus by our love for Him and others. If this is truly the case, then we must ask ourselves a hard question, and answer honestly:
How far would I go for love?
- Will I feed the hungry, the destitute, when no one else will?
- Will I hydrate those who need it, even though it is the simplest most unglamorous task anyone could do?
- Will I welcome the strangers, put your arms around those who have no friends, no family, and no home?
- Will I clothe the naked and face embarrassing situations without shame because Jesus would?
- Will I comfort the sick and risk your own health and happiness to care for the untouchables?
- Will I visit the prisoners and go to the hardest, darkest, most uncomfortable places to bring the light of Jesus?
I call on my fellow Lovers and ask: when everything else is stripped away...
How far DO YOU go for love?
[Written by RevMedia coordinator Christina N Dickson of www.BrideInspired.com]
Posts
