Art Devotional at Merryvale Assisted Living

Today I get to lead an art devotional at Merryvale Assisted Living.  The first time I led an art devotional was at the half way house in North Georgia.  An art devotional is basically an art lesson that follows a brief devotional.  The art lesson is meant to reinforce the meditation of the devotional lesson.

Last night, though I've looked forward to today's art devotional for weeks, I had still not decided on a topic.  So, I did what I usually do at times like those and I prayed.  "Lord, I'm so excited to get to do this and I thank you for making this happen, but I don't know what to do the lesson on.  Please illumine to me the lesson that you would like me to deliver tomorrow to the people at Merryvale."

And I had an idea pop into my head and began to search it out in Philippians.  However, as I was flipping the pages toward Philippians, I was led in a different direction as if a passage in 1 Corinthians was lit up with a highlighter.  My curiosity piqued, I read the passage, which was totally new to me, and low and behold, I found my devotional, which, I believe, is exactly the devotional that the Lord would have me deliver today.

1 Corinthians 15:  The Resurrection Body

We all wonder about life after death.  We all wonder about our heavenly form.  But before we try to give it shape, we need to consider the very real possibility of it.  For many of us, even as Christians, the resurrection body may seem like science fiction or a product of our imagination.  We may focus on the good works of this life and just leave the mysteries of the afterlife up to God.  But Paul does give us a glimpse that we can rest our minds on, of the resurrection body.  He writes an entire chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, on this glimpse.  To summarize, Paul first assures us that Christ's resurrection is no fictional story.  He assures us and reminds us that our Christian faith is based on two truths, first that the first man, Adam, was made of the earth and had an earthy body, and second, that Jesus Christ, was transformed to a heavenly quality, truly resurrected in a manner that cannot be explained by our human logic but that we can attempt to understand it if we look at the world God has created.  Paul gives us an example of the transformation of resurrection in a kernel of wheat; dead into the ground it goes and yet it comes up a very glorious creation.  Likewise, we see all around us the wonders of this world, from animals and plants, to our own human form, and even the sun and stars, for which we cannot fathom their creation.  Therefore, why should we be in disbelief about the very real nature of our own resurrection bodies?  For we are shown that it is possible to be earthy in this life, and yet to be miraculously transformed.  Just look, says Paul, at the seed, put into the ground in one form, and changed miraculously into another form, not by our will, but by the will and the power of God Almighty.  So it will be so for our bodies, for those of us who know Christ Jesus, that we will be, as verses 42 - 44 state, "sown in corruption, yet raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, yet raised in glory; sown in weakness, yet raised in power; sown a natural body, yet raised a spiritual body," and, as Paul so affirms, "there is a spiritual body."

After reminding those in attendance that not one person has ever done enough good to earn eternal life, nor done enough wrong to be disqualified for eternal life, but that Jesus Christ is the victor, defeating death for our sake, and that we must know him and claim him in order to receive the free gift of eternal life, we will go about the following art project meant to be a reminder of the very real and miraculous new life we will receive after our earthy lives our finished.

Each participant will be given a canvas with a pre-drawn outline:

And will be guided through the following progression:

In order to produce a final piece that is something like this:

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  I'm very thankful to God for the inspiration on this project and to putting all of the puzzle pieces together which land me in the position to lead it.  I have confidence that it will be used for God's glory because I can see him already bringing the whole project to life.

I just love to see God at work!  There is nothing more invigorating!