Jesus - The Word in the Flesh

I am really struck by the fact that God, the Father, chose to speak to us in words as well as visually in the flesh. God could have just given us His Words to help us understand who He is, but He chose to come in the form of a man. Fully God, fully man. And, as fully man and fully God, Jesus lived a perfect life you and I cannot live. He did it for us, and He gave us an example in three-dimension as to how to live in a way that honors God on planet earth.

I think the visual way of "speaking" is another way to reach out to us with grace and truth, another way of calling us to a love relationship with God. "Long ago, God spoke to us by way of the prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by the coming of Jesus." (Hebrews 1:1-2) People actually touched Jesus, saw Him with their own eyes, held Him, followed  him. God knows we respond to the visual as well as words. Many people have said to me they respect Jesus, but don't understand the Bible.

By having Jesus actually enter our world, God reaches out to us in hope to call the world to himself. I know it is much more, but one way of thinking about it is that He painted a picture of Himself in Jesus.

By making art, I am also showing the hope we have as we respond to that call. To quote Makoto Fujimura, "Art is an inherently hopeful act, an act that echoes the creativity of the Creator. Every time...an artist envisions the first stroke of a brush on a white canvas....that act is done in hope; the creator reaches out in hope to call the world into that creation." From Refractions:A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture.

I am starting a drawing of the father running to his prodigal son. Just like our heavenly Father is eagerly longing for a love relationship with all of us. For Lani. It is a rough start.