“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”. (Ephesians 2:10).
A mural is a painting applied to and made integral to the surface of a wall or ceiling. It is a part of the overall scheme of a painting. Murals were intended primarily to beautify public or private spaces. Murals can also be used to memorialize or record a historical event.
Similarly, a diverse account of faith as recorded in the Bible can be likened to God’s beautiful murals, an expression of his relationship with His children which also preserves the history of His faithfulness across generations.
God had a plan of making Abraham the father of faith and an example to all who will come to believe and obey Jesus as their Lord and savior. Before Abraham eventually became the father of all who believes, he had to endure tests from God, the most difficult being the command to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.
Isaac was eventually spared and God reinforces His covenant with Abraham. These tests were designed to educate him in obedient faith and also establish him as an example for those who will trust God against the odds.
Obedient faith hears God’s Word and acts upon it and this became the legacy Abraham left for all who will later accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. (Rom. 4:16). It became a cornerstone in the beautiful mural of God.
Earlier, when God told Abraham to depart from his father’s land to a new land which he promised to give him and his children as an inheritance God was making Abraham the pioneer of faith that would serve as an example in the future for His children who will be called out from the world to a spiritual inheritance in Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Abraham was from the Ur of the Chaldeans, in the southern part of modern-day Iraq which would later become part of Babylon. Babylon of course would come to represent all that God detests and a symbol of judgment on all that is ungodly (Isa. 47:6).
Now our diverse callings are part of a decorative mural of God in his hall of faith. In this regard, therefore, we should see challenges as an opportunity to create a legacy of obedient faith, as a part of a grand picture, beyond what we can comprehend in the immediate.
Abraham did not know that his obedient faith as he tried to sacrifice Isaac was part of a divine mural which relates to the coming of the Messiah because the story of Isaac foreshadows God’s willingness to sacrifice His only Son for us.
What does this teach us? That obedient faith or disobedience are part of a bigger picture that can either beautify or mar the canvass of God’s murals preordained to beautify our lives.
If we only pause to understand the long-term gains that accrue to us from every successful step of obedience, we will never consider any other option but obey God willingly.
Now, reflecting on God’s diverse murals which fit into a perfect whole, we will observe that unlike Abraham and Jacob’s life experiences, Isaac’s was distinctly different from both of them, even though each was key to a divine plan that was coming to include the whole- the birth of Jesus Christ as the savior of the world.
Though Abram, later Abraham was commanded by God to migrate to Canaan and his grandchild Jacob, later Israel had to leave same Canaan for Haran for a while Isaac is the only patriarch whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan even in the face of severe testing of famine.
Undoubtedly, we serve one God and we all key into one faith however it is God’s sovereign will to work out his plan for each of us. The path of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob differs in the murals of God’s grand plan of salvation which would be presented to the world through the Jews. (John 4:22).
However, a lack of understanding of who we are and how we fit into the murals of God often undermines obedient faith in our walk with God while we allow ourselves to be distracted by others’ successes or failures. (2 Corinthians 10:12).
We must understand that God’s plan for each of us may differ but the end result is a big blessing as long as we follow his divine guidance.
Regardless of their different experience, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked closely with God and they were all blessed. What is important is not to run another man’s race but God’s race which he has planned for us.
Jesus did not run his race like that of John the Baptist. He knew his mission and his single-minded obedience to God shaped and sharpened his ministry. The more we obey God the more we find our perfect spot in His grand mural of faith, that is, his will for our life.
Jesus is the ultimate touch of perfection in God’s mural and we are all enjoined to fit into his finished work of salvation.
The Bible says: “ looking unto Jesus (not at any other), the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. (Hebrews 12:2).
Reading
Hebrews 2: 1-17
