The Story of the German Artist

Today at church, the teen Sunday school teacher told us an interesting story. This is what I can remember of it:

There was this German man who used to fight on the German army in WW2. He escaped the battle and ran away to another country. While he was there, he took up the job as a floor sweeper at a particular church. He worked this job his whole life. He never said a word, he just did his job. He would observe the people around him and their lives. All he did his whole life was sweep and observe. One day there was this really amazing evangelist, named Peter who came up to him and asked him a series of questions. “Where did you come from?” “What do you like to do?” “Tell me about your family” So the German man answered these questions and said that he used to be a painter in Germany. The evangelist was surprised. So he asked the man to paint his portrait. At first he was reluctant, but after much begging, he agreed. But he made the evangelist promise that he won’t look at it until it is completely finished. So Peter sat week after week as the painter painted his portrait. This took very long and many weeks had passed. Peter asked day after day if the painter was finished. He replied, “Almost, it’s just not quite finished”. So one day, as the painter was painting the evangelist, the evangelist’s wife was standing in the doorway and the painter didn’t see her. She saw the painting and shrieked. “This painting is horrible!!” The evangelist was confused. He asked to see the painting. The German painter replied, “Sure, but it’s still not finished”. When the evangelist saw the painting, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The painting looked terrible! He asked the painter why he had painted him that way. The painter replied, “all my life, I have been observing people and how they live. How they act everyday and what they do. I realized that it was the truth of God that made them as they are. So as I observed the people I wondered what they would be like without God, and this is what I see.” He finished motioning to the painting. 

                                                            (This is not the painting)

Continue reading →

Give All Of You

This is what “Worship” is:

• you coming before God in humility
• sacrifice of all that you are and have
• giving God ALL the glory
• mentioning of God’s attributes

The pre-requisite to worship is:

• we are in the holy place of God when we worship so we must have “Redemption”

Psalm 24:4:

Only those with clean hands and pure

hearts, 

who have not worshiped idols,

who have not made promises in the 

name of a false god.

When you worship, you are forgetting yourself and putting your focus on the LORD and what He has done, and you are also praising Him for all that He is. So what is forgetting yourself and giving your soul fully to God?

This, I think is a nice analogy to use when explaining to someone what it looks like to NOT give your full soul and life into the hands of Christ. Then the picture of what it should look like will be very clear.

It’s like you bought a house from someone who was selling it and was moving elsewhere. Once you sign the papers, it’s yours and you could do whatever you like with the house. But the previous owner who had sold his house and no longer owns it, constantly keeps coming back. They use your kitchen, your backyard, the family room, the bedrooms, even the shower! Sometimes even, they take your furniture and put it in their own new house and replace it with their old furniture. 

God is like the person who moved in. And we are the former owners. 

You give your soul to God when He redeems you. So if you hold anything back, then you’re claiming that part of your soul is still yours, although God is the permanent owner of every single part of your soul.  You cannot worship properly if you still take control over your life. 

Continue reading →