There is an artistic vein that runs through me. As I attempt to create a painting, a scrapbook page, a clay structure, a photograph, there are times I find myself wanting perfection. I want my creation, whatever it is at the moment, to be as good as it gets. Often I’m frustrated.

When God created man, He formed Him, in the image of God. When He created each of us, He knitted our bones together in the womb of our mothers. He worked according to His perfect plan, putting the parts together that would work just as He wanted them to. He not only made the machinery which moved and breathed and thought, but deep within the heart of us was placed something we cannot see. It is our soul…a part of us that was created by God to need Him, to want Him.

As Christians, after a time, we feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. Our souls know that something is missing in our lives, and that something is revealed to us as a real relationship with the Lord. The first moment that we submit ourselves to God, He begins to rebuild the creation He made. The more of Him we hand over, the more He perfects us, according to what His will is for us. What He wants us to do is to recognize that we can become the perfect ‘us’ when we place ourselves in the able hands of the Creator.

There is no other way we will become a work of art…a Masterpiece. HE alone is the Master, and as we live, work, submit, yield to Him, the Masterpiece will become more beautiful, more like Him.

This song from the mid-1970’s is my prayer as He forms me in small and great ways by His mighty hand.

Father, You are the artist with canvas and paint
Color my life with Your blue skies and rain
Paint seasons of sunshine and places of pain
‘Til I am a picture of Him.

Refrain:
Make me a portrait of Jesus.
Paint Your love over my sin.
Let Your life shine like a light through mine,
‘Til I am the picture of Him.

Lord, I am a canvas for You to create
Capture the look of Your Son in my face
And when You paint problems, Lord
Frame them with grace,
‘Til I am the picture of Him.

Refrain

Lord, You paint my future,
According to plan
I trust You though sometimes
I don’t understand
The rainbow of reasons that flows
From Your hand,
To make me a picture of Him.

Refrain

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Heb 10: 19-22Heb 10: 19-22
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Encouragement and Warning ¹⁹ My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy place ²⁰ by a new way that leads to life! And this way takes us through the curtain that is Christ himself. ²¹ We have a great high priest who is in charge of God's house. ²² ; . So let's come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water.

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What is Sacrifice?  Webster’s dictionary gives these definitions:

• An act of offering to a deity something precious; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar
• Something offered in sacrifice
• a: destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b: something given up or lost

Exactly!  The act of offering to a deity…GOD, something precious…ourselves. With sincere hearts, with complete surrender, we gave our lives to Him at the time of our prayer for salvation. We were, as it says in Heb 10:22Heb 10:22
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
22 ; . So let's come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water.

WP-Bible plugin “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. Following that, we gave our bodies to be ‘washed with pure water” in the act of Baptism. Those activities of a new believer were not the end of it. More was expected of us.

Heb 10: 23 goes on to say that we should ‘hold fast’  (tightly, firmly) to the hope, without wavering.  Hmmm… without wavering.

What does that mean?  Does it mean that we can run and cling to the hem of Christ’s garment when we want something, when we need Him to do something for us?  Does it mean we can return to our old ways and run back and forth to Jesus with a prayer of repentance when we get into trouble?  NO! “Without wavering” means that we must walk in His footsteps, moment by moment. That means seeking God’s will, and yielding to it, regardless of how uncomfortable it may seem at the time. It means that we must surrender our own thoughts and trust in His.

Sacrificial living won’t always feel good. When you  give up something that you are used to doing, however unhealthy it might be, it’s not easy to do. God’s Word tells us that man’s thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways.  Sacrificing anything is contrary to man’s selfish nature.

It takes practice to let go of old things and to begin new methods of living. Consider physical exercise. It causes muscles to ache.  However, the more we use those muscles, the stronger they get and the more natural it is to use them. Likewise, exercising these new spiritual muscles may cause moments of pain, but, the more we use those muscles, the stronger they get and the more natural it is to use them. Think of it as ‘growing pains’.  Our sacrificial living is healthier, and it produces growth. Do you see the pattern emerging? Our faithfulness in the practice of giving to and for the Lord, results in our strength, and growth in spiritual things. The more grow, the more we want to please Him.  The more faithful we are, the more He can use us in accomplishing His work.

We are to encourage one another in this vein. When it’s ‘hard’ to run that race set before us, let us call out, first to our Coach Jesus for strength, and then to the other team players, our brothers and sisters in Christ who will be our cheerleaders. We all need a friendly smile, a helping hand, a pat on the back sometimes. We all need a little scolding, too, at times and help in finding our direction. Each of us needs a little nudge, at times, to do our work with a cheerful heart.  Let us pray for one another and encourage one another to ‘keep up the good work’ as we attempt to develop new patterns of sacrificial living.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6Matthew 5:6
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
6 God blesses those people who want to obey him s who want to obey him: Or “who want to do right” or “who want everyone to be treated right.” more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want!

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How will we be satisfied?

Can you imagine going all week, until Sunday, without eating a meal? You’d be tired, grumpy and lethargic without any food in your body, wouldn’t you? You’d have no energy and little interest in anything because you’d be deprived of the fuel it takes to operate in a healthy manner.

The same is true of us when we leave our Bibles, untouched, between church services. A week without the Word of God would be detrimental to our spiritual lives.  There would be no direction, but our own, and that usually ends us up in a place we don’t want to be. There would be no assurance of God’s love that is ours, and that would leave us feeling needy and alone. There would be no chastisement or reminder of sin that we could easily fall prey to when not listening to the Voice of God. Ignoring the Word could result in a disaster for us, spiritually speaking.

When we are malnourished, we are a sad bunch, a weak family of Christians. We haven’t much desire to serve because we have no energy or motivation to do so. What good, then, are we to the Lord?  Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” (Matthew 5:13Matthew 5:13
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Salt and Light ¹³ ; You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.

WP-Bible plugin)  Even if we have an idea of serving, how will we know what to do or how to do it the way He wants us to without His instruction?

We need to encourage one another to read the Word, faithfully and often. We need to be self-disciplined, setting a specific block of time for the studying of the Bible. Devouring the delectable tidbits from the banquet table that God sets before us will nourish our spiritual lives in ways we cannot imagine!  We will grow closer to Him, we will move in Him, we will serve Him, we will please Him!  A proper spiritual diet is one that incorporates prayer, studying the Word, and then carrying out what we have learned.  Praying, alone, won’t accomplish the work of God. Neither will reading His Word. We must put what we’ve learned into practice.  There is no sense knowing something without using the knowledge. All this may not come easily, but it is not always easy to do what is best for us or for the good of someone else.

Think of it this way, would we, if we were carpenters, go off to a job without the tools we’d need in our toolboxes? No, of course not. We’d accomplish little that day, having left our tools at home. The same is true of the Bible. Leaving it untouched, unread, does not prepare us for the work God wants to have done in the world around us. We have a kingdom to build for Him. Just as we cannot hammer a nail with our hand alone, we cannot build a kingdom without His blueprints and instruction.  Let’s remember to use the tools He has supplied us with for the job!

Let us each find a time each morning, when we may sit with Jesus in a quiet place. (”Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10Psalm 46:10
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
10 Our God says, “Calm down, and learn that I am God! All nations on earth will honor me.”

WP-Bible plugin)  Unhurried, let’s spend time speaking with Him through prayer, listening to Him through the reading of the Bible.  Then we can go forth into the new day with a calm assurance that we are prepared to do the work He puts before us.

We have spoken the words with our mouths and we have believed in our hearts, that Jesus Christ is Lord.  We have entered into a relationship…with Jesus.  We have followed His example and we have been baptized, signifying our death to the old ways,  the burying our sins, and our resurrection into a new life.  Now what?

We want to know Him, to know more about Him. We begin to read, to learn from, to take root in His Word. We realize what His instructions are, and we make an effort to obey His commandments. One of those commandments is to remember Him in the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. In Luke 22:19Luke 22:19
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
19 Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and handed it to his apostles. Then he said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of remembering me!”

WP-Bible plugin,  Jesus took break and gave thanks for it. He passed it to the disciples, saying “Take, eat, for this is my body, broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.”

Just as we wash our hands before we sit down to eat a meal, we need to examine our lives and be sure that we ask forgiveness for anything that stands between Jesus and ourselves. We need to know that we are cleansed of any known or unknown sin before we partake in the body and blood of Christ at the Communion table. No longer is it necessary for us make atonement for our sin by slaying a lamb as a sacrifice.  Jesus, the Spotless Lamb of God, did it all for us at the Cross.   We have been reborn into a new covenant with God!  I believe that when we join together in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we are gathering around a family table.  We have been made blood relatives, in the true sense of the word, by the blood Jesus shed at Calvary. . It is solemn time of unity each  of us who believe. It is a time of reflecting, remembering, the sacrificial act of our Brother and Lord. It is an intimate time that believers share together in Christ.

The scriptures say that he who eats the bread or drinks the cup in an  unworthy manner is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (1Cor 11:27)   We believers, also, must be sure that we are partaking with the correct examination of our selves, for the Word tells us that ” he eats and drinks judgment unto himself if he has not judged his body rightly.”  1 Cor 11: 281 Cor 11: 28
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
28 That's why you must examine the way you eat and drink.

WP-Bible plugin. When we come to the table of the Lord’s Supper, let us come, with no sin, no grudges against another, no unfinished business with the Lord. We are united by His blood, by His Spirit…one with God. Let us live the oneness that we have together as family members.

Jesus, Son of God, was born to Earth as a flesh and blood child, that we might be able to relate, one on one, with God. He took on the features and flesh of man. He grew among the Jewish people. He partook in all that life had to offer… except sin. He identifies with us in every emotion, every feeling we have, because He, himself, felt those in his ‘humanness’.

At about the age of thirty years He knew that the time had come to begin His ministry. He knew what He should do to accomplish the work that God, the Father, had set before Him. One of those things was to go to His cousin, John the Baptist, to be baptized. When John saw Jesus at the river, he asked why he should be baptizing Jesus. He said that Jesus should, instead, be baptizing him. Jesus answered that it was necessary for himself to be baptized to ‘fulfill righteousness.” (Matt 3:15Matt 3:15
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
15 Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.

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At Calvary, Jesus, who was sinless, (John 8:7John 8:7
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
7 . They kept on asking Jesus about the woman. Finally, he stood up and said, “If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!”

WP-Bible plugin), laid down His perfection for a few brief hours and He picked up the sin of all humanity. He identified himself with us, by carrying the guilt and filth and sinful acts just the way we had done. He traveled to hell, leaving that horrible burden behind the gates, locking them behind Him. That provided the way for us to have freedom from sin and to gain righteousness in Christ for all eternity. Praise be to God for such a plan! Christ took on our humanness, just for that short time, but what a powerful gift that was for Him to give!

Charles Swindoll in Signposts Along Life’s Journey (1997), Insight for Living, CA, p. 10, wrote that the word ‘baptize’ comes from the “root word, bapto, which was a term used in the first century for immersing a garment first into bleach and then into dye, both cleansing and changing the color of the cloth. (Note its similarity to baptism’s cleansing of sin and becoming a new person through Christ.) Stated another way, when you process cloth to change its color, you are said to “baptize” it.

When Jesus was baptized, He set an example for believers to follow. When we accepted Christ as our Savior by faith, we were cleansed by His blood. At that moment, we were completely forgiven of all of our past, present and future sin. When we followed His example of baptism, we were plunged beneath the water, symbolic of the cleansing we’d received at Salvation. Our baptism was a testimony to the world that we have been changed! We signified that were burying our sin, and rising in life anew. In such a way, we identified ourselves with Jesus, both inwardly and outwardly for all to see. (It is not the baptism that renews us, it is the faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that does that work. Baptism is a testimony that we have been changed…renewed by the power of His righteousness.)

Let us, daily, renew ourselves in Him, as we remember that our sins are dead to us, and go forth to live in the newness of Life in Christ!