Take Me Deeper - Week 4!

The end of February! How did that happen?!! Without further ado here are my thoughts, the readings I was led to, and my piece for Take Me deeper this week!

February Wk 4
I wasn't at all sure about this one for some reason but my eldest (18) said she loved it so am keeping it!

2 Cor. 5:19 - God,through Christ, is making the whole human race his friends. I found some commentary:

- we are to be reconciled to God - i.e. to accept what God has already achieved - it is not that we must reconcile ourselves.
Through Christ we truly assume his righteousness, just as Christ assumed our sin.
I read that in Paul's writings, God is always the reconciler. This is the reverse of Hellenistic religion where the human seeks restoration of God's favour, and also of Judaism, where confession of sin and repentance are the means by which reconciliation with God is sought. The initiative now is with God, who changes a relationship of enmity to friendship. This is accomplished through Christ.
not sure if I was going off on a bit of a tangent there, and being Catholic, that commentary gave me pause for thought as growing up I've heard a lot of the need for confession of sin and for repentance...ie everything coming from the human.

So I continued on and searched for what the Bible says about loving yourself.
1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (That last sentence really jumped out at me but I felt it was for another time to concentrate on that).
Psalm 139:13-14 - You created every part of, you put me together in my mother's womb. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Phil. 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
John 15:9 - As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
Romans 8:16 - God's Spirit, joining himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
1 John 4:4 - Little children, you are from God...he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Genesis 1:26 - And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness...
Psalms 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Reading all the above, my image represents God sending out into the world all of us, His children. Transformed children, (hence keeping the butterflies from the January prompts), thanks to everything God has done for us (see above quotes). I wanted to give a nod towards the theme of creation (God creating us, the world, love, and so used some stars and a bit of a bursting forth theme also to represent that. The 'wind' of the Spirit is still in there, as are the rays of light, among each other, as friends (see above quote).

Basically, it all seems to be summed up as loving yourself is being thankful and appreciating the person whom God has made in you.
TFL!
Bernie x
Hands are a brush from SpiritSigh @ DeviantArt, and the rest was created with CU brushes

Take Me Deeper - February Week 3

I know it's a recurring theme for me LOL but can you believe it's the 3rd week of February already?!
Shrove Tuesday has come and Ash Wednesday, and I am so thankful for the Take Me Deeper Project as well as all the lovely people at His Kingdom Come.

Remember, if you've not already joined us and would like to, you can find he Take Me Deeper Project and other classes HERE at His Kingdom Come!

So, to this week's study! I read the provided Bible quote in context. and then looked for commentaries. Within them I found three thoughts that stuck with me:

- a community of love shines as a light

- genuine love and unity among Christians was a major cause, perhaps the strongest single cause, of the spread of Christianity

- love acts in obedience to God's will, under the guidance of the Spirit.

Then I didn't have the chance to try and create anything for a week, and so went back to the readings and searched for Bible quotes about neighbours. I found:
Leviticus 19:17 - ...but love your neighbour as you love yourself
Isaiah 58:9-10 - If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.

John 14:26 - But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Matthew 25:40 - ...I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these members of my family, you did it for me.

I have the jam jar with escaping butterfly representing us, through love, escaping from our little confined, self-centred worlds. Once I'd got that on the page I got a bit fed up as it seemed flat and I had zero ideas how to progress the page! So I prayed and it came to me to add in some extra darkness around the jar...I ended up making that into a wasteland-type landscape, representing the dark and miserable world we live in if we don't love our neighbour and care for others. I took out most of the colour from that area to make it more stark.
Then the bright butterflies of love and care, once released out into the world, bring 'the brightness of noon', shown by the blue sky and rays of light.
The representation of the Spirit is carried on into this piece as well.

Basically, a dark world can be transformed into a world of light and colour by one simple thing - love.

Jam jar brush from SpiritSigh at DeviantArt; the rest is created by me with CU brushes and a CU texture.
TFL!
Bernie x