Tuesday, January 25, 2011

What does your life smell like?

What is the purpose of art for the believer? What does art have to do with the calling of Christ?
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
John 12:2-4
I want to be a Christian artist, I want to glorify God with my art.
How do I do this? Always put a cross in my art? Only make art that can be sold in Christian bookstores? Does it have to be practical?
Look at the story: was Mary being practical? This was an act of abandonment. This was an act of pure non-self-consciousness.
When you do this… make your art in an unselfconscious way for the glory of Christ, expect criticism, from yourself, even from other “brothers and sisters”
Fragrance: is not really a practical thing. It scents the air… some people like it, some are offended.
Have you ever been hugged by someone who was wearing strong fragrance? It gets on you and you smell it the rest of the day.
In Christ God has hugged us. We have His fragrance on us.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
2 Corinthians 2:13-15
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16
To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
2 Corinthians 2:15-17
Let your art and your life be the fragrance of God.