Scratching the Surface

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Maybe you recognize these as the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. Or perhaps you recognize these things in God's character. Do you recognize them in yours? Not to brag or anything --no, I really mean, not to brag (at least not on me)-- I can see them in mine. You see, over the years, the Holy Spirit has been at work, changing me and bringing me into conformity with the character of God. It's sort of like those "scratch art" things. Maybe you did them as a kid: you apply the base coat to your paper with all sorts of brilliantly colored crayons, you paint over it with acrylic paint (usually black); once the paint dries, you scratch off your design and watch the colors pop through wherever you've removed the paint. That's how I imagine the work of the Holy Spirit to be.

I encourage you to give Genesis 1 a read some time. In a nutshell, God created all this stuff. He said it was good. Lastly, He created a man and a woman. He looked at everything He had made, the man, the woman, and the perfect environment in which they could live and have a relationship with Him, and God said it was very good. Mankind was made exactly as God designed: strong, beautiful, in His image. Two short chapters later, in Genesis 3, God through Moses tells of the sad day when sin entered the world, and everything became corrupt by its presence. (Sort of like the black paint that obscures the beauty of the original design on a scratch art.) What would it take for God's design to be restored to its perfect beginning? All of this was part of God's plan. He would use Adam and Eve's rebellion as a means to show human beings His goodness and their need for a good God. Again and again, He demonstrated grace toward those who dishonored Him; He forgave and restored; He loved His people and cared for them the way a good father longs for his rebellious son to return home; He proved His character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and then, when the time was right, He offered up His Son to be cursed and condemned in the place of every man that they might be righteous in His Son. He would not restore mankind to its perfect beginning; God would reveal the fullness of His plan: a new life, a more perfect design! 

To those who choose to follow after God through His Son, He gives the gift of His Holy Spirit to dwell with them and in them, changing them --while still on this earth!-- to be more like Jesus. This is His word-of-mouth advertising. He transforms lives to reflect His character so that those He has transformed will love others and by loving others will entice others to follow after Him as well. Living, breathing, walking, talking billboards of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control!

But we're human. And we're not robots. we're not always going to get it right. We're not always going to obey perfectly. When we do, however, more of our old nature (more of that black acrylic paint) gets scratched off. And one day, when we get to heaven, we'll be able to see the beauty of God's perfect design. Not just the original swirls of colored crayons, or the obscurity of the acrylic paint, but the perfect masterpiece, just as He designed it from before the foundation of the world. 

Until then, take the time to reflect. Acknowledge and give thanks for the transformation that's taking place as the Holy Spirit scrapes away more and more of your old nature. Don't be ashamed to say you are better than you used to be. After all, it's not you who is doing the work anyway.