ARTIST NOTES

Purchase a print

Week 20        7/10/2016

Title of drawing:  "The Danger of "Us" vs. "Them" (Jonah 1 -4; Hebrews 1:1-2)

Artist thoughts:

Willful, uncoerced obedience depends on trust. Trust for honesty, trust for fairness, trust for compassion, and trust for justice. History reveals God to be trustworthy and our willingness to trust God to be inconsistent. When our heart harbors hate, revenge, or prejudice we forsake the faithful love of God towards us and towards others. Mistrust will infest a heart like that.

Through God's marvelous mercy toward Nineveh God saved Jonah from Jonah.  Unknowingly swallowed up by God's love and mercy, Jonah was humbled finding himself preserved in the belly of a huge fish. Jonah was given a moment of clarity that transformed his "Us vs. Them" mentality into an obedient act of "Us FOR Them".

Jesus tells us to love our enemy. Nineveh definitely met the criteria of an enemy for Jonah. Let's choose justice, mercy, and compassion toward others. Choosing to walk around in a self constructed box of our own prejudice will perilously veil us from the heart of God. Our "us vs. them" scenario  must break down and become an "us  for them" mindset. This drawing is a warning. What are these people doing in a box? I propose this box can ask each and everyone of us two personal questions: "Will we be inclusive or exclusive when sharing God's love?", and "Will we react with fear or respond with God's love in the face of distrust, revenge, and anger?"

View the time lapse video HERE.

Listen to the sermon HERE.