My office is my special little room. Well, kinda. It's special because it's the designated area for my unicorn stuff. I've been a unicorn collector since I was a child, and I don't see that ever stopping. At my last apartment, I had a unicorn-er...hahahaaa. Now, I have a little more space for them to spread out. Anyway, I was sitting at the computer one day, and I started looking at my unicorn pictures. Of course, they're not special like the pictures of my family and friends (yes, I do have those, too :)), but because they're beautiful and make me happy, I put them on display. I thought about the walls of God's office, as well as the rest of His palace. Surely, they are lined with the pictures of His kids! I'm sure you can't think of too many occasions where you've visited someone with children, and there weren't photos of them everywhere! And if the children weren't at home with the parents, there may have been a few extra. Well, we're not at home with our Father, so He probably hangs a few additional ones :)
John 13:35 says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Don't you want God to have a lot of pictures of you demonstrating His love? It's got to be more than just saying you love Mama, Grandma, and Aunt Gertrude...it's actually getting out in the highways and byways and *doing* something to *show* your love for *the world*! And I must admit, this part really convicts me. I know that I fall very short of creating moments than God can snap with His camera. But, there are those Christians who probably have a whole wall dedicated to them, because they are caught doing so many photo-worthy acts.
Unfortunately for us, the devil also has a camera. And he knows how to use it – a little too well. He just uses his pictures differently than God does. Satan likes to send them to every email address he has and to all his Facebook friends. He's even set up his own website to showcase his photography skills. And this, dear brothers and sisters, is what the world sees. The Lord shares his pictures, too, but He seems to usually just send them to friends and family. The devil sends them out to EVERYBODY...even our friends and family. He'll do anything he can do to capture a moment that will make our whole family tree look bad.
To illustrate that point, I found an article by Thom S. Rainer on christianpost.com entitled, “What the Unchurched Don't Like About Christians”. (Guess they've seen some of our pictures :/) The pollees were made up of people who had been Christians for less than a year, so they still had a pretty fresh non-Christian perspective. The five major categories were:
I don’t like Christians who treat other Christians poorly.
I don’t like “holier-than-thou” attitudes.
I don’t like Christians who talk more than they listen.
I don’t like Christians who won’t get involved in my life.
I don’t like Christians who don’t go to church.
What a horrible photo album that must've been! Multiple people seeing pictures of God's children acting in a very non-loving way! I'm sure my likeness is in a photo album like that, somewhere :( Knowing this should give us an incentive to always be camera-ready for the world. The Lord doesn't hang such things on His wall, but I don't want my non-Christ-like moments floating around for the world to see!
Our goal should be to fill our lives with instances that God would be proud to hang up in His office, or anywhere else, for that matter! Don't forget, just because He doesn't exhibit our embarrassing pictures doesn't mean He doesn't see when they're made! And if we want to reach this lost and dying world, we've got to start making some beautiful portraits!