Dads, Wash Your Children's Feet

He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. – John 13:4-5

It was a Saturday afternoon and I had tried to carve out a bit of time to work on a drawing. I gathered my papers and pens and had set up shop at the table. I started to make a few marks and then it happened. The sound of a child crying because they couldn’t find a blanket, or someone needed help in the bathroom, or a doll needed a wardrobe change, or someone couldn’t reach something. Then after the second or third, or other times even at the first interruption, I slammed down my pen and trudged off to try and address the problem quickly so that I could get back to what I wanted to be doing. To make matters worse, while trying to take care of their needs, things came from my lips like, “you need to keep up with your stuff…” or, “if you wouldn’t be so rough with your toy, it wouldn’t keep coming apart…” These words in themselves were not bad advice and could be good instruction, however, too often the tone of my voice coupled with body language simply said, “Do things right so you won't bother me with it!”

These moments are too common. I don’t have it all together as a father or husband. I really don’t. I get impatient at the drop of a hat and I am prone to be extremely selfish with my time. It's a hard fight within me. My sinful flesh ignites quickly in those situations and the first thought that goes through my mind is not serving my family, but that they are taking me away from my selfish desires.

I’m sure every father can relate to this on some level. Maybe it's while working in the garage, trying to watch the game, read a book, or just get a moment to sit and relax, but the result is always the same.

If you really want to boil it down and say it truthfully, the way we treat our families in those moments is telling them that we are more important than them; and that we will make them suffer for needing us. Regardless of our intentions, it communicates that it’s their fault for taking us away from what we were doing. That when you need us, we will get angry at you, and it is like pounding a wedge between us and our children.

Fellow dads, we have to fight this, and our only hope to overcome is not in our ability to will new reactions and censor ourselves, but it is in a new heart. This is because our words and actions flow out of our hearts.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. – Luke 6:45

The reality is that this is not something we can create for ourselves. We cannot give ourselves a new and good heart. Rather it must be done by the transforming work of Christ dwelling in us! We must depend on his grace to give us strength in those moments to follow his example. (Psalm 51:10)

And what an example he gave us! Think of the night Christ shared the passover in the upper room, where he washed the feet of his disciples. Here is Christ the night before he would give his life up for others, among the men that he loved, listening to them argue about who would be the greatest among them; and Jesus takes the position of a servant. He humbles himself to wash their feet, their dirty, mud-crusted, slop-covered feet. When you watch him, he doesn’t slam down his cup, or bang his fist on the table and grunt or sigh. He doesn’t throw the basin down so everyone knows he is frustrated and upset that he had to get up and do this. Instead, he humbly and quietly takes action to serve those he loved. He saw their need, and his ability to meet it.

I want to be like that for my family. Seeing their needs and giving up my wants and desires to help them have theirs, just as Christ saw my need for him as being greater than his holding on to heaven (Philippians 2:5-8). So men, let us fight hard when the urge arises in us to let loose our frustration by remembering God’s long suffering and patience with us. Let us display to our children the love of Christ that patiently welcomes them with their needs.

Let us pick up the towel, the water, and get on our knees and wash our families’ feet.

God Killed Me

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. Be true to yourself. Trust your heart. Do what is right for you. Do what makes you feel good.

We have all heard these sentiments chanted in our culture. From our family, our entertainment, and even from within ourselves, we are no strangers to them. These cords of thinking are so deeply woven into our being that at times they emerge from us as guidance without even a thought behind their meaning. We give no heed to the one thing these statements revolve around.

You.

Follow and trust yourself. Give into your passions and desires. You are the one who leads your life. For many this likely doesn’t seem to be a problem, and these thoughts come very naturally. However, this way of thinking comes with a dangerous presupposition; you are capable of defining what is true and what is right for yourself. That you are a good and trustworthy person.

However, the truth is, we are not good people. None of us are. (Romans 3:10-12) We in fact all desire evil, and are each consumed with a passion for it. We drink of it, yet our thirst is never quenched. We eat of it, yet our stomachs cramp with the pangs of hunger. We seek our rest in it, yet we lay sleepless with no contentment.

So, what is this evil?

It is that we are consumed with a passion and desire for our own glory. (Romans 1:25) We fight and claw to have our purpose and our way above God’s. That, my friends, is the essence of evil, and it is what we pursue. However, no matter how much of it we get, it's never enough. No matter how much we assert our own will over God's, it never satisfies. It leaves us empty, straining, and plotting for more. The reason it has never satisfied, is because we were not designed to be satisfied by ourselves. (Jeremiah 2:12-13) This is our great evil that leaves us empty.

That is also why from Christ we hear a much different plea. From the mouth of our creator we hear a call to follow Him, not ourselves. And do not mistake it, it is a call to die. (Mark 8:34) To die to yourself. To lay down everything you are, your thoughts, desires, and actions, under His rule.

But who wants to die to themselves? Who volunteers for that? It is the one who has seen something worth dying for. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6) It is the one who has seen more value and beauty in Christ than they see in themselves. They are willing to die. For those that have truly seen Christ, the fear of dying to yourself grows dim in the radiant beauty of what that death will award you. They are then willing to lay hold of Christ at the cost of themselves. They will give up following their own heart, to follow God's. (Acts 13:22)

But what does that look like? How does someone see God as more beautiful than themselves? It takes seeing who you really are in the light of who God really is. When we see that God is holy, just, and righteous, and He will not tolerate the sin in our rejection of Him, we start to see ourselves in the light of His glory. He is God, we are not, and all we are owed from Him is destruction. (Isaiah 6:1-7, James 4:4)

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Seeing ourselves under God's wrath is the only way we can start to see Christ as more desirable than ourselves.

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Yet hope comes in that sate. Seeing yourself as cursed, ruined, and hopeless under God’s wrath is the beginning of dying to yourself. (James 4:6) Because it is there, that you can see the glory of Christ. It is there you can see that He paid the penalty you deserve. (2 Corinthians 5:21) It is there that you see His wrath as loving, due to its ability to give you what you need most, the ability to see God as gloriously beautiful in His sacrifice of His Son for your sin.

Seeing ourselves under God's wrath is the only way we can start to see Christ as more desirable than ourselves. Then we can desire to be crucified with Him, buried with Him, to be raised to new life with Him. (Romans 6:1-7) We then see the reward of dying to ourselves is Him!

This is what God did in my life. This is what this poster is about. God opened my eyes to His glory, and I died under its weight. God's glory killed me, then raised me to a new life with Him!

So I ask, do you see God as more desirable than yourself? Is His way more beautiful than yours? If not, I have to wonder, are you really alive?

You can purchase a print from the shop on Society 6.

Why Create?

It's probably the most defining question any artist can ask themselves. Your answer to it will be the wind that fills your sails, driving every creative pursuit and project, along with charting the course of your vision and purpose.

The question is: why do I create?

It’s a good question to ask ourselves as artists, and we should be careful, honest, and thoughtful in how we answer it.

I’ve asked it to other creatives I’ve known over the years and have received a variety of responses. Some say they just enjoy it. Some say it’s a passion they feel they must express. Some express that they have to get the ideas out of their head or they will go crazy. Others simply claim it’s part of who they are.

All of these I have felt, and on some level, have also found myself in agreement with. However, lately something changed. Something started to creep into my mind when I thought on this question.

The more I considered the reason I create, the more my answer became shaped by my answer to a different question. A question of identity.

The question: who am I?

Well, there are many answers to that question. I am Shawn. I am a son, a brother, a husband, a father. I’m a designer, a church member, a lantern collector, a beard grower, and the list goes on. When I think about it, I’m a lot of things. However, there is one thing that I am that is before all the others. It is the ultimate title of my identity that makes every other title in my life not only possible, but even gives each of them their purpose and value.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. –1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Who am I? I am not my own. I do not belong to myself, and I wouldn’t want it any other way! I was bought with a price, and that price was the blood of Jesus Christ. I was a slave to sin, bound to death, and held captive by an evil enemy. I could not free myself from that condition, but someone else could. That someone was Christ! He came and paid my debt and set me free. Free to belong to Him. Who else would I want to belong to? Myself? That only brought death. I love belonging to Him where there is life and joy! (Ephesians 2:1-10)

So how does this reality influence my answer to the first question, why do I create? If I am not my own, and every source of joy in my life flows from this new relationship with God (John 15:11), and I was brought into this relationship by His grace, then I want everything I do to show the beauty of the one who made me alive! I was designed for God to be glorified in me, and I was also made to enjoy His beauty! So with that, God put a new desire in me, a 1 Corinthians 10:31 desire.

Do everything for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

I’m pretty sure that “everything” includes drawing an image, creating a design, or any creative pursuit. So then the question… how do I do that? How do I create for God's glory?

The answer came from an unexpected place. Exodus. Yep, a book about God freeing His people from captivity and teaching them how to use their redemption for His glory. Sounds a little familiar huh?

In Exodus I came across a passage of scripture that as an artist stopped me in my tracks. In Exodus 35, God’s word talks about people like me, and it’s beautiful.

Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded… – Exodus 35:10

This verse has become the focus of my creative efforts. But to really grasp the full weight of meaning, we need to look at verses 30-35

Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer. –Exodus 35:30-35

I cannot tell you the amount of stirring that takes place in my heart when I read these scriptures! God has gifted people, with skill, intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship, to make things that look good! Beautiful things! But why…?

What is the context of this scripture? What is going on here? The people of Israel are building the tabernacle, the tent that would be used to worship God: that God would come and fill with His glory! (Exodus 40:34) And guess what, He wanted it to look good. He wanted well crafted things, beautiful designs, purposeful work that meant something. It was not aimless or mindless or self-glorifying. It was skillful and intelligent. Having each part infused with meaning so that all of it points to Christ who is the ultimate display of God’s glory! (Hebrews 1:3)

I believe it is the desire of God for every person to use their skills and talents in a way that brings glory to Him, and to follow 1 Corinthians 10:31. So for me, there came a moment that I decided everything I create must be for His glory. It needs to speak of a truth from Scripture, tell of an experience of God's truth in my life, and no matter what it is, leave no doubt that its creation is meant to glorify God.

So that is why I create, and I hope if you are an artist reading this that it stirs your affections toward Christ to a point that you will do the same. There is no higher calling for an artist! Draw people to Christ with your art; to that which can truly satisfy.