Be a Spiritual Van Gogh
I’m not a big moviegoer, but occasionally a family member drags me to the theater. A few years ago my daughter talked me into going to see a film with her. I don’t remember much about the movie, but one scene has stuck with me ever since. A young woman and her suitor are standing in a gray stone church building. As they look at a stained-glass window, she remarks, “I love the stained-glass. It is a riot of color in a dreary gray world.”
As someone called by God to a black and white ministry—speaking God’s truth to end time lies—I understand how others may see the church as a dreary gray world. Christians must often appear to others to be against everything and for nothing. For this reason, we must be careful to color our Christianity. While we cannot avoid the black, but must address it, there are other colors—brilliant, bright, and beautiful—on our palette as well. These dazzling colors, along with the gray hue of blended black and white, must be boldly painted in van Gogh fashion if we hope to attract the world to our faith.
Though we must speak of a hell to shun, we must never fail to tell of a heaven to gain. Though men must be warned of the consequences of sin, they must also be pointed to the Savior who came. Though it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God, it is a most wonderful thing to fall by faith into the arms of infinite love. Though God’s judgment is inescapable, His mercy is everlasting.
Don Walton
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