All of us Need to Learn from the Best
I recently learned something about The Louvre in Paris, France. The Louvre is probably the world’s most famous museum of art, and is filled with the paintings of the greatest artists of history – da Vinci, Delacroix, Rubens, Michelangelo, and many others. Yet during the off season, the museum opens it doors and offers a unique opportunity to up and coming artists – they are allowed to come in and copy the work of the masters.
Hour by hour and day by day men and women sit and try to reproduce what they see. One young man was trying to copy the Mona Lisa and worked hard to copy it exactly as he saw it. His friend and colleague affirmed him for the work he did, but he still seemed unnerved. “I’ve never worked so hard, yet felt so far off in my effort,” said the young artist. An older patron of the museum and painter himself remarked, “All of us need to learn from the best. If you are too satisfied with yourself, you cannot improve.”
The Bible tells us to imitate God (see Ephesians 5:1-10). We are to become like God as much as we can possibly be. Our use of Scripture and prayer, our obedience, our participation in the community of faith, and response to daily circumstances all contribute to that maturity and development. We also have to participate with, and yield to the work of the Holy Spirit, since He is working to conform us to the image of God. We are to use the canvas of our lives to reproduce the character of God in love, truth, and godliness. We can never do it exactly, but Scripture calls us to “live lives worthy of the high calling we have received ” (Ephesians 4:1). But I know you and I can be better than we are today.
Our responsibility is to keep striving, trying, and working to follow after and be like God. One problem we all have though, is that we tend to give up too easily, or too soon. We struggle with our faith and tend to ignore God. We get frustrated with our lack of strength and tendency to yield to temptation. We do not feed our faith much beyond going to church once a week, or casually reading the Bible. We despair because the majority of our friends and the prevailing culture around us seems to have no moral high ground or ethical framework by which they live. We also feel like such a beginner when we compare ourselves with Jesus. So we just give up.
Why is it so difficult to live Jesus? Is it because you and I spend so little time reading Scripture, praying to God to strength, and determining to live for God? Are you trying to maintain your faith based on meager spiritual food? Are you living a solitary Christian existence, devoid of sharing your life with other Christians? Are you more concerned with your own faith, and not the needs of others outside of the Kingdom of God? Read 2 Peter 1:3-11. Peter says believers have everything they need for life and godliness. Acts 2:42-47 gives us a glimpse of how the early church modeled their lives after Jesus. 1 John 2:6 provides a great reminder of the aim for our lives.
We cannot afford to become satisfied where we are. All of us still have a long way to go to become more like Jesus. Choosing Jesus as our example, we need to re-commit ourselves daily to live as He did, and do as He did. After all, He is the Master we should imitate. Walk wisely…and intentionally after Him.
Love is a verb,
Mike Olejarz
