by Joel

Sometimes I wonder what poets read when they look over their' own finished material. What does a painter see when the image on the canvas is complete?

Or are the words... "Finished", and "Complete" ever to be added to an artist's work?

It makes me wonder if Michelangelo ever thought his' David was ever really done, or if Da Vinci ever kept his' brush off the Mona Lisa.

Sometimes, when I look at a work of art from a historical artist, it makes me think. What if the artist never could really finish his/her work? What if they suffered with their' works until the day they died?

Is that how God thinks of me... with the exception of the dying part of course? Does He suffer with me as He carves away the stone to reveal the nakedness of His' Glory within me? Will I one day be a David on display, or a Sistine Chapel, whose' interior is painted with the story of God and man? Will I one day be a poem that He will read before the world, or a song that He will sing to Heaven?

I don't know.

All that I do know is that He has made me for His' Pleasure. And, I find joy in that. That He created me with a specific story to tell. And, the "Pleasure" for which He made me is hotly sought after by me. Because, I know that when I learn of the pleasure I give Him, it will heal me of all the displeasures done to me.

The same is true for you.

In the Bible, we are told that Christ gives us the key to the Kingdom of Heaven. I have been convinced for a long time that we are to experience that "Kingdom" right here in this world. It's the only way that we can truly be witnesses to others. When the Thing that is in us pours forth as rivers of living water to drench those who have long been used to a parched and barren way of life.

Tonight at Church, I learned from a little test that we took that my style of "Witnessing" was testimonial in nature. I can debate pretty well if need be... but what it comes down to is that when I speak of Christ, I speak of a "Personal" experience. I don't speak from inuendo, and second hand dogma. I know what He did for me nearly eleven years ago, and I know that I was too destroyed to effect that kind of transformation on my own.

In many ways it has been a hard road to travel. But, it has been easier as well. Just knowing that I'm not alone anymore has made the greatest impact on my life. C.S. Lewis said that he believed in Christianity not just because he "Saw it" but that "By it... I see everything else."

It's the same with me. It just makes sense. Not because someone told me that it should. But because, I have put the time and study into it that made me come to that conclusion. The only end there is to all things is Christ. Whether one ends their' journey in life blessed by Him, or banished from Him... He is the end of every human journey.

Do all roads lead to God? Yes, they do. They lead either to His' welcome, or to His' judgement. All roads will lead to Him, but only One road will find Him as Father. All other roads will find Him as Enemy.

And, it's not this way because God is cruel and unkind. It's not fair for us to demand to have it "Our" way and fall into sin,... but then refuse God the right to have it "His" way when it comes to saving us.

Because, to continue demanding our way in spite of the Gift He offers is active rebellion.

Paul said in Acts 17 that there was a time when God "Winked" at the ignorance of human beings when it came to them honoring and worshiping a God they never knew, but that the time has come in Christ that God commands all people everywhere to repent.

That means that, while humans retained a bit of darkened knowledge about God in all cultures ever since the exiting of Eden, only Christ truly revealed Him to the world. There is no longer any need to hold on to one's dreadfully limited instinctual knowledge about Him when they can embrace the fullest Revelation of Himself ever put to fallen man. Jesus Christ.

Jesus said "I am the door. If you enter in through Me, you will be saved".

So, while at one time God allowed humans in their' ignorance to worship what little they knew about Him, He has taken away all reason to continue doing so, hence... His' command to repent, or "Change one's direction", by believing in His' Son..

What will I be when all the stone is chiseled away? Only God knows. I do believe that like all artists, God suffers with me, longing to see me finished. And, unlike the negative tone in which this verse is often interpreted,... I take the words "My Spirit will not always strive with man" to be a positive.

That rather than saying that God reaches a point when He loses all patience with me, and throws me to the wolves... that He is saying instead that His' Grace will exhaust all of my dysfunction, until every last bit of jagged stone has been cut away, and only a beautiful work of art remains.

That is not to say however that one has no choices of their' own in the matter. Prodigals can still leave their' Father, and die in the swine pit if that is what they want. The difference is... I don't want to be a prodigal. So, His' Spirit will strive with me until there is nothing left of me to strive with. God does not walk out on His' work. He finishes it.

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