Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 3 November 2021 | Wednesday Message
TOPIC: An Art Lesson
SCRIPTURE: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” – 1 John 2:3
When I’m at my art easel, secondhand information won’t do. If I’m working on a painting of daisies, I must have a vase of fresh daisies to study. There’s no way that a photograph can convey the dark tones of real shadows, or the thin transparency of a petal. Recently I finished an art project that included drawings of thirty-eight pairs of hands. I hired a model who could stand next to my easel and pose his hands this way and that. The result? The sketchings of hands look… real.
When I fail to study the real thing, my paintings show it. They lack life if I’ve only worked from photographs or other people’s ideas. And what is true for the artist, is true for the Christian. So many believers settle for secondhand information as they seek to know the Lord better. Some only get to know the Lord through other people. They feel energy from a friend’s testimony and then attempt to transfer another’s experience into their life. It won’t work.
If a painting is to shine with life, it must represent the real thing. If a Christian is to shine with the light of Jesus, it will mean taking time to get close to the real thing or, in this case, the real Person. The closer we draw to him, the more our life will look, feel, and be… real.
Obedience, according to 1 John 2:3, is the key to knowing God. When we read the Word, the Spirit speaks to our heart, prompting us to obey. It’s the real and only way to know God.
PRAY: Son of God, I desire to know you. I want to study your life through your Word and listen to your voice when I pray. Forgive me when I copy information in a second hand way from someone else’s experiences. My life will only be changed as I trust and obey you.
Joni and Friends Daily Devotional 3 November 2021 is taken from Diamonds in the Dust – By Joni Eareckson Tada