The Picture Frame

*The Picture Frame*
BY:James Cook

Many times when we have a picture that really means the world to us, we try to find a picture frame to compliment our most treasured moments in time. There are so many types of frames that we can get confused and indecisive as to which one would bring out the beauty that is encased within the picture. There are the rustic frames, oak frames, plastic frames, metal frames and etc., and to purchase one suitable to meet our need can be very trying. Regardless of our efforts, we would never pick a frame that wouldn't compliment our treasured memory. Furthermore, we would be hesitant to place it somewhere to expose it, in order to prevent any comments that would be in contrast to our efforts.

In Isaiah there is a detailed description of a picture frame we would never get drawn to, and we would, more than likely, not expose it in our homes to prevent embarrassment. This picture frame was very much disfigured beyond anyone's imagination, there was no beauty or majestic look to draw us toward it, the appearance would cause many to reject it and despose of the worn out frame, and you could see that this frame experienced a lot of abuse in the humanistic surroundings. The name of this picture frame was called Jesus.
In Isa 53:2-3 "He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not". This picture frame was a creation of God, and was meant to fulfill God's characteristics in the human form.

Jesus, being the Son of God, would appear to have God's genes, and if this is the case then Jesus's physical attributes could give us an idea of how God could possibly look in the physical. However, God the Father is not a man in the human form, but in His awesomeness He is God that possesses all the characteristics that can beautify any picture frame created. To be able to see God, we should be able to see Him in others, and others see Him in us. If for some reason God's picture is not visible inside our frame, then how do we display Him before our peers. There is one way for us to try and see Him within ourselves every day, and it is when we go and present ourselves before the mirror.

We have the opportunity to carry a picture of God with us where ever we go, and to show the world that is crying out to see Him. But first, we must do a visual check by looking into the mirror, and if there is any difficulty seeing Him, we must spend some time on our knees to re-frame His picture. The one looking back at you gives you the opportunity to see if God's picture is the centre piece inside the frame. The one looking back at you, in that mirror, doubles for who you really are, and if you fail to see any resemblance of God looking back at you, then you know something is preventing you from having His radiant picture within you, flow from your frame. If we expect to see physical beauty or some Hollywood symbol looking back at us, then we have no idea what God's picture is all about. When we look into that mirror, and see a frame without that picture, then we haven't accepted His beauty into the frame we carry.
Jesus is the only living example of what a picture frame is all about. It isn't in the physical appearance, it isn't some intellectual statement, but he was the picture frame that exposed the true picture of who God really is by loving unconditionally. The true picture of God is found in the New Testament, and this is the picture He wants others to see when they look into our eyes, the windows of our souls. First Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us what love looks like—it’s patient, kind, gentle, and so much more. You are like God when you are loving others. Love never fails. Always remember, the greatest thing you could ever have, or do, is to love, because everything else will fade away, but His love is the picture that will last forever!
“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression within us” (1 John 4:12, NLT). By having His love brought out in expression, it reveals what we embrace within us. When our peers can see the only living God, the author of Love within us, the frame will take second place as His beauty becomes magnified as it projects beyond the frame. It can be said that in man's perspective Jesus' appearance would be the most horrifying picture frame to possess, but what was encased within Him was exposed through the love, the healings, foregiveness, and etc. Sadly, even in this day and age He is still rejected and despised just like He was in Biblical times. Regardless, His characteristics are just the same today as they were back then. Do you reject him, despise him, or do you accept Him? What part of Jesus attracts you, the physical or the internal where His Father's portrait radiates from?
Every time we start a new day, we can start by looking into that mirror, into the eyes looking back at us, and the outer frame won't be as important when God's picture,(LOVE), is in the centre of it. In God's eyes we are members of His Royal Family that only He could create, and being created in the image of God you can be that picture perfect portrait for Him, so that others will be able to see HIM alive and well.