Works of Art

All Artwork by Jon Seals & used with permission.
"The Builders"©
http://jonsealsart.com/home.html

Recently, Yale Divinity School accepted a good friend of mine into their Master of Arts program, with a concentration in Religion and Visual Art. His artwork has always taken my mind to places unknown and led me to consider deeper, more profound thoughts.

As I admired one of his paintings, I thought about the time he spends before he puts the blank sheet of paper on his easel. The careful consideration of where to place the first stroke that begins the masterpiece. The various internal debates he must have while working with colors, shapes, lines, shadows, and most importantly, when to step back and declare it complete.

The artist is slow and methodical with each step because they know others will view it, critique it, and hopefully want to buy it and display it in their homes.

Life, it has been said, is a work of art.

I have always thought about that statement from a distant position. That is, I have always considered my life as one canvas, where I placed my first stroke years ago in my foolish young years. By the time I began to grasp life more deeply, I’d already messed up my painting so much that even Bob Ross couldn’t have recovered it.

Plow

As I spend my life trying to understand God, He has helped me alter my view of my canvas. While the silly and immature strokes of years past are there, I do not see my life as one large canvas—yet. Instead, every day He places a blank sheet on my easel and leaves me with choices that will determine what today’s art will look like. I can choose to ignore the critical nature of the day and let the paint fall where it may with no design, pattern, or beauty. Or I can choose to think carefully about the day by spending time with the Perfect Creator, ask Him where to place the first stroke and ask Him to plan the day for me. This way, at the end of the day, I can hand Him my artwork, wait for His response, and know that it is perfect.

Then one day, when this body stops moving and I have no more canvas left to paint, He and I will take the 30,000’ view of thousands of small works of art and it will make either one giant masterpiece or something to be discarded.

Students

My friend impressed the right people to get into Yale with his artwork. I want to impress my heavenly Father, my Savior, and the Holy Spirit with my daily canvases that were woven together by Them in a manner I could not see until I reached that side of Heaven.

My past may be ugly. I will make stupid decisions today, tomorrow, and next week. But when I keep my thoughts on Jesus, and walk as He would have me walk, He turns ugly into beauty. 

Our life is a giant canvas that one day we will present to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It can be beautiful or it can be a disaster. Today you have a choice to paint with thought or toss away your choices as though they were meaningless. 

Question: Will God want to display your life's art in the halls of eternity?

“Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”  Colossians 1:22

Dead Squirrels

 

Everyone can associate with the squirrel on the road. You know the one that dodges, darts, and dashes to get from one side to the next for no apparent reason. For the last few weeks, one of those gray, furry creatures would run in front of my car on a small side road on my way to work. This week, he juked when he should have jived and met his end.

As I drove by him on the road, I considered his brief life. His ‘home’ was on the side of the road surrounded by dozens of wooded acres with no homes, cars, or roads, everything he could possibly need or want to live a happy life. He would run to the other side of the road, which is a walled subdivision. It reminds me of the classic question, “Why did the chicken/squirrel cross the road?”

This story plays out untold thousands of times a day around the world, but it’s not just animals, it’s us. God gives us what we “need”, and yet, we want what’s on the other side of the road. Our discontentment with His provisions and curiosity is so strong that we are willing to risk the dangers inherent in those decisions. Somehow—I’ll never understand how—we convince ourselves that what happened to millions before us will not happen to us; “It can’t happen to me!” We believe we are wiser or have figured out a trick that ‘they’ didn’t know. In the end, the wheels pin us to the road, and the result is the same…passerby’s glance at our outcome, and then shake their head in disbelief about our poor choice to leave the known to run to the unknown. The funny part is that the squirrels on the side we’re running to are running to our side believing the same thing about our side.

God warns us over and over about desiring the other side of the road because longing leads to running, which leads to our demise.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” 1 Timothy 6:6-8

Stories of men and women, who have refused to be content, litter humankind’s history from the most powerful leaders to the lowliest survivor. Curiosity killed the cat, the squirrel, and us.

 “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” 1 Timothy 4:11-13

If you are finding yourself looking, longing, and lunging for the other side, consider the dangers…consider our mandate to be content…consider our first goal, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33

 

Why I Fell

When I lived near the mountains of North Carolina, I was somewhat addicted to mountain biking. There is something exhilarating about going 30mph-plus through heavily wooded and steep terrain. The learning curve in such a sport is often unforgiving when you hit a tree or slip on an exposed root. The one obstacle to give me the most trouble was log bridges. No matter what I did, I fell off more than I stayed on. That can be frustrating and it is certainly painful.

One day, a more experienced rider watched my technique and immediately recognized my problem—my eyes. No, I didn’t need glasses; it was where my eyes were looking, my focus or point of aim that was the problem. He told me a simple yet profound rule, “Where you look, there you will go.” Don’t look at the ditch, look at the bridge and your tires will follow. From that moment, I stayed on logs and other teetering hurdles more than I fell off.

As a pastor, most people who come and talk to me want to know one thing:

“How do I get my life back on track?”

The response I give is their eyes have lost their focus. Just like my point of aim was wrong as I rode the logs, so our glances in life become staring points and where you look, there you will go

It is so easy to look at the problem, the obstacle, or the danger and miss the Answer. Other times it is the temptation to look too long at deceptively ‘beautiful scenery’ (power, success, wealth, sensual desires) and completely miss the bridge, the trail, and the exit. The good news is that while we have breath, our Solution is always right in front of us, and He is inviting you to let Him direct, lead, and sometimes carry you through your troubled waters.

“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:14

One of the primary reasons the ‘way is hard’ is because of our focus. We can lose sight of our intended target for many reasons. Sometimes our reason is arrogance or believing our path is better, fear of the world’s opinion, embarrassment thinking Jesus can’t forgive us and will not help, our past failures to walk the straight and narrow, or a multiplicity of other rationalizations.  

Adjust your focus from the problem to the Answer!

‘Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

If you miss this bridge, you have missed everything, and your life will have amounted to nothing more than temporal fascination that leads nowhere. Today is a new day and your choice is to keep your eyes on Jesus or turn your glance to the world. One thing is certain,

Where you look, there you will go.