If you were asked to paint a picture of what you thought Jesus looked like just what would you paint? Our imaginations can take us away on a dream cloud of just what Jesus might look like, but do we really know? I think we do.
Look at that sweet baby in your arms today. The grandmother laying in room 201 down corridor 3 in the nursing home. The soldier fighting on the battle lines of Afghanistan. The pastor humbly reading from God's Word. The mother feeding her child the last piece of bread. The daddy working in the lumber yard late hours to provide for his family. The child watching veggie tales giggling with all her might. The homeless woman begging for a dollar. The nurse caring for the young mother breathing her last breath as cancer steals away her life. The youth that goes in late to church and sits in the last pew. The boy who stays after school to help a classmate with homework.
All those sunrises and sunsets. The billowing clouds and the starlit nights. The mountains that climb the sky and the valleys that lie close to the river. The tiniest of rain drops to the greatest whale. A rainbow filled with dazzling color. Trees billowing in the wind. A calm pond filled with jumping fish. The puppy that gives kisses and the elephant that gives a ride all are reflections of what God looks like.
He is that love you see in your husband's eyes and in the touch of your mother. He is the sweet hug you receive as your child jumps into your arms. All of creation shouts His name. Great or small, Jesus is alive and in us all. We were made in His image. As the Holy Spirit lives within us, He makes Himself known by love. A smile and a tender hello speak His name. The sweetness of forgiveness and the tender touch of grace. Mercy that finds us on that dark night. The hand that reaches for us as we stand on the edge ready to jump.
All we must do is look around and we can see His splendor. In all things beautiful He shines through. So, how would you paint Him? In all His glory, all of creation shouts His name.
"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we see and the things we can't see-such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him." Colossians 1:15-16
"So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27
"Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16
