A peace of faith

My church small group is memorizing a verse a week so why not draw it too! And while I'm at it, since most of my group is connected through the Bible app (a.k.a. YouVersion) let's post it there! If you want to connect with me on the Bible app, under Find Friends search for "darconfree".

After much time spent in thought about all the miraculous moving parts to this verse, the Holy Spirit revealed to me its core: we have peace with God. Everything else in this verse points to that truth. The interesting thing is that the only thing we do to achieve that peace with God is faith in what Jesus has done for us. Are you trying to make peace with God by any other action than faith? When was the last time that you put a focus on the Fruit of faithfulness?

Full speed ahead!

So like I told you last post, I'm pursuing an impossible dream. I'm going to submit a Bible plan to YouVersion (a.k.a. the Bible App) even though they aren't taking submissions. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but why should that stop me? I spent some time praying about what kind of Bible plan I would submit. I have a bunch of cool ideas squirreled away, but after praying it over, the obvious choice is to just do what I do here on the blog. I'm going to draw the most popular verses and write about what God reveals in them. So where am I going to find some statistics on the most popular verses? Isn't it obvious?

Well, YouVersion, perhaps you aren't going to let me submit a Bible plan just yet, but that isn't going to stop me from forcing you to help me anyway! Mwahahahaaaaaaaa!

The neat thing is that I've already drawn two of these top ten verses:

#1 Romans 12:2

#4 Jeremiah 29:11

I was close to drawing #5 and #9 Matthew 6:33-34, but instead drew Matthew 6:26-29. I mention that here primarily because it's one of my favorite pictures ever!

So that leaves 8 verses to go!

Looking back on my previous posts, I've realized how much God has grown in me so I'm taking a new approach. When I spend time reading a verse, now the drawing is secondary. The primary focus is the truth in those words that the Holy Spirit is revealing. Because of the way God has designed my brain, the drawing works itself out just from focusing on God's truth and figuring out how to apply it practically. So for now the text of the posts will be spending more time explaining why I drew what I drew and the truth God revealed in it.

Let's do it!

Day 332

Day 331

[Text from image: Jew cut off by disobedience. Gentile grafted in by belief. Being a living sacrifice is the fruit. Measure yourself only by faith.]

Day 330

[Text from image: Salvation > Sent > Tell > Hear > Believe > Salvation]

Day 328

Day 327

[Text from image: "I'd like to trade-in the truth about God. I'm looking for something where I have a little bit more control."
"I have the PERFECT thing for YOU! Our latest model gives you the freedom to do whatever you want combined with the ability to blame it for anything that goes wrong!"]

Romans 6:13

Romans 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself as an instrument of righteousness.

Artist's Note: A small group from our church is preparing for a mission trip. As part of this trip we will be doing some teaching. Right now we are fasting and praying for the trip and it can be tempting to believe that the success of this trip is dependent on us. My wife wrote that "none of what God is going to do [on our mission trip] has anything to do with me or my worthiness or preparedness which is great news because we all want the [people] to not to encounter us but God...I believe this is the perfect time to learn/put into practice now what we will have to live by [on our mission trip] which is God's ability to move and speak-not our own." In response to that I was given a vivid image of a musician tuning his instrument. The people that buy tickets to a concert have come to see the musician play the instrument. The instruments have value because of the artist. Now that's not to say that the role instrument is unimportant. It must be prepared and tuned in order to work properly. I believe in the same way my prayer and fasting is a tuning session so that when it's time for the concert God and I can make heavenly music.

Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Artist's Note: Two weekends in a row I've been out of town. I'm now attempting to leave a doodle at each place that I stay based on what I'd been learning that week. Let's just say that God showed us a lot of favor everywhere we went on our vacation. Even things that didn't go so well ended up being an unexpected blessing!

What is love? Oh baby, don't hurt me (Romans 8:38-39)

Paul has quite the way with words. In a single sentence, he paints this amazing picture of the vastness of the love of God. Granted Paul liked to use big sentences, but it’s not the eloquence or flair that we’re drawn to. It’s not the words, but the power of God in those words.

We believe we can describe love, yet we can’t possibly describe the all-encompassing nature of God. How can this be when God is love (1 John 4:8)? The truth of it is that our definition of love is just as inadequate as our low understanding of God. One attempt at understanding God’s character is in “Quiet Talks on Prayer” by S.D. Gordon. “You see God is so much that it takes a number of earth’s relationships put together to get a good suggestion of what He is.”

1. He is a father: This is the most popular relationship people connect with God, probably because this is the word Jesus used all the time. “Father stands for strength, loving strength. A father plans, and provides for, and protects his loved ones.” But this is where most people stop. God is so much more than just a father.
2. He is a mother: He’s what? God can’t be a woman! He’s a man! We’ll I’m sorry to burst your macho bubble, but woman was also created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). There are many references to God in a motherly way. Matthew 23:31 for example. “Mother stands for love, - great, patient, tender, fine-fibered, enduring love. What would she not do for a loved one!”
3. He is a friend: By friend, we’re talking BEST friend. The only friend that you share all your secret thoughts that no one else in the world knows. “A friend is one who loves you for your sake only and steadfastly loves without regard to any return, even a return-love.”
4. He is a lover: Hold on now! This is getting inappropriate! Children might here you say that! “I mean the rare fine word lover. Where two have met, and acquaintance has deepened into friendship, and that in turn into the holiest emotion, the highest friendship. What would he not do for her! She becomes the new human centre of his life. In a good sense he worships the ground she treads upon. And she-she will leave wealth for poverty if only so that she may be with him in the coming days.”
5. He is a husband: Many would think of a husband as an ex-lover. The chase is over and there is no more need to exert any effort. “In God’s thought a husband is a lover plus. He is all that the finest lover is, and more; more tender, more eager, more thoughtful. Two lives are joined, and begin living one life. Two wills, yet one. Two persons, yet one purpose. Duality in unity.”
6. He is a wife: S.D. Gordon doesn’t include wife in his list perhaps because he’s rolled it into his description of the husband. For me as a newlywed, describing God as a husband but not a wife is like describing God as a father but not a mother. My wife has brought such a new aspect of love that I’ve never known before. Her love is a foundational love that is vital in encouragement and provides the footing to stand in confidence for what is right when no one else will. You can step out because you know, even if everyone else hates you for it, it doesn’t matter, because you already have her love and no one else’s opinion matters.

S.D. Gordon concludes with this: “Now, please, do not you take one of these words, and say, ‘I like that’: and you another say, ‘That conception of God appeals to me,’ and you another. How we do whittle God down to our narrow conceptions! You must take all [six] words, and think the finest meaning into each, and then put them all together, to get a close up idea of God. He is all that, and more.”

If you keep a picture of God in your wallet:

Going for the gold (Romans 11:15)

Long, long ago there were two athletes that competed in the 100 meter dash. Runner A ran it in 11.5 seconds while Runner B crossed the finish line at 12 seconds. Which of these two runners deserved the Olympic gold medal?

Wrapping up on my trip to Israel, I would hope that I’ve gotten across the point that the Jewish people are blessed by God. They are not only surviving, but thriving in a desert surrounded by countries that aren’t shy to say they want to destroy them. I think this is important to elaborate on because while most Americans would consider Israel an ally, they are probably less aware of the anti-semitism that persists around them. Unfortunately there are always the blatant acts of racism, but I’m talking about the little nudges that often go unnoticed, especially in the church. Until recently I had been unaware of the terms Supersessionism or Replacement Theology.

At the heart of the matter, is the idea that you can only be saved through faith in Jesus (a la John 14:6, etc.). This would mean that Jews can not be saved without turning to Jesus. That sounds perfectly biblical to me, however more extreme opinions of Replacement Theology claim Jews are no longer God’s chosen people. That’s like God saying, “Remember all those mistakes you made in the Old Testament, Jews? I let those slide when you repented, but not accepting Jesus went too far so don’t even bother trying anymore.” That doesn’t sound like the God they talk about in my church.

Traditional supersessionism provides a more subtle kick out the door, claiming that the Church has inherited the promises formerly held by the Jews. At first this doesn’t sound entirely unreasonable. The Church did take over, right? So what’s the problem? Ask yourself, when you read God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament, do you mentally transfer them to you or your church? The verse that immediately comes to my mind is 2 Chronicles 7:14. God promises that if His people turn from their sin He will heal their land. I have heard Americans apply this to the United States, but this promise is to Solomon and the Israelites as they are dedicating the temple. We should not take it out of context and apply it to ourselves.

With that in mind let’s take a look back at the two runners. Who deserved the Olympic gold medal? Runner A was me in high school. I ran that time at our regional qualifiers and got beat by just about every other person in my heat. Runner B was Thomas Burke running in the 1896 Olympics. It doesn’t matter that I ran a faster time than Tom. He ran in and won the race in the Olympic finals. So in the same way that I can’t claim Tom’s gold medal, we can’t steal the promises God made to Israel. Now that’s not to say that God won’t provide for you in a similar way that He promised to provide for Israel, but that would be part of a separate promise to you, not in accordance with His promises to Israel.

The main point I want to get across is that as Christians we should remember the importance of Israel and the Jews. The Bible clearly tells us that God has a plan of restoration for His chosen people.


If you invent a time machine just to compete in the 1896 Olympics:

Shortest distance between two points (Romans 1:16)

This is a very popular verse, but it’s quite possible that you haven’t heard it in it’s entirety. We like to read the word “everyone” in the first half of the verse, but some people tend to leave off the ending where the Jews get first dibs. The Good News of Jesus was initially only brought to the Jews because God had been preparing them since the days of Abraham to understand His plan and seek out the saviour. By the grace of God it was later entrusted to the Gentiles in equal measure.

It’s interesting to read how a select few commentaries interpret “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” They explain that the reference is merely a historical sequence not showing significance in preference. It’s strange that our culture might claim this as merely a historical order while this is the same culture that favors the victor, i.e. second place is just the first loser. It’s ridiculous to think that the last person to finish the race would get the gold medal simply because he crossed the finish line most recently. In the same way, it’s absurd to claim that God’s favor for the Gentile pushes the Jews out of the way.

The idea of Jews being first in line is rather ironic to me since visiting Israel. Soon after I arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport, I observed a phenomenon that I didn’t quiet realize until I noticed that it happened everywhere. For the most part, Israeli’s don’t wait in lines. They don’t even have lines. They walk right up to the counter, and if you’re dumb enough to stand behind other people, they will pass you by. So while we’re getting all uppity about who’s first in line, they’ve bypassed the whole argument and have already taken care of what they needed.

If you bring 11 items to the ‘10 items or less’ line:

JC meets J-pop (Romans 12:2)

When I was growing up, I basically had 4 mothers. My group of friends all came from similar backgrounds with similar values so my friend’s mothers were sort of like an extension of my own mom. Over the years of college and jobs my friends and I have parted ways, but one of my friends and (by association) his Mom are still around. So after years of staying power, she has finally clawed her way to the top of the “other mother” heap to be my “2nd Mom.” Long story short, this drawing (as well as Romans 12:1) was her request for a church retreat she was leading not too long ago.

If you’ve been living under an internet-rock for the past few years, you may not recognized the first picture. On a Japanese game show there is a segment called “Nōkabe” meaing “Brain Wall.” (It became popular on YouTube as “Human Tetris” and even made a short run in the U.S. as “Hole in the Wall”.) The simple idea is that you have to contort your body to fit into cutouts in a giant wall of Styrofoam otherwise you’ll be pushed into a pool of water.

Now if the rock you’ve been living under is REALLY big, you’re one of the last people remaining unaware of Transformers, the toy line of robots that transform from everyday objects (commonly vehicles) into humanoid form. However the toy industry could not contain them so they transformed into TV shows, comics, and even a few recent movies that I heard did okay at the box office.

The idea is that we should avoid fitting into the mold of this world and focus our minds on God. The goal of these actions is to discern God’s will for us (his good, pleasing, and perfect will). Perhaps the idea following someone else’s plan is difficult for you to handle. Think about it like this: What if someone you trust 100% and you know has your best interest at heart planned a very special day just for you. Wouldn’t you want to stick with them all day so you didn’t miss a single moment? Now multiply that by an eternity.


A very special 谢谢 to my 2nd Mom.

I’m a sooooul man (Romans 12:1)

According to the General Social Survey’s cumulative data collected from 1973 to 2006 in the United States, 80% of people believed in life after death. Of that group, 78.9% believed that the afterlife would be a spiritual life involving the mind and not the body. There are two problems with the magical numbers I just used to dazzled you. First, it’s very important to remember that statistics can be bent to say whatever you want. (That second sampling size isn’t big enough to fully convince me.) Secondly, individual beliefs and definitions of the “soul” will differ. But for argument’s sake, let’s just stick to generalities. These stats back up my gut feeling that most people believe they have a spiritual essence that will far outlast their physical bodies.

So let’s do some math. (Real math not the statistical kind.) Let’s say that you have a generous life span of 100 years. Now compare that to the age of the earth. If we were to use the most conservative timescale (Christians under cut scientist by a landslide), the earth is about 6000 years old. Even in this tiny scale your bodily form exists for less than 2% of the time. If you think a baby-aged planet is ludicrous, the earth is 4.54 billion years old. On this scale, Methuselah who according to the Bible lived 969 years was only around for 0.00002% of the time.

So the real question is, if you believe you have a eternal soul, what are you doing to prep it for the vast majority of its existence? Most translations of this verse really drive home the point of the “body as a living sacrifice” and “spiritual act of worship.” Both entities are working together at a short-term loss (by earthly standards) to equal a long term gain (by spiritual standards). How would your daily actions change if you focused on your spirit’s long term well-being instead of the fleeting status of that mammal flesh that carries it around?

If you knew that 50% of statistics are made up on the spot:

Better Than Bob the Builder (Romans 8:1)

From the tract '10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die' by John Piper

#3) To take away our condemnation

The first thing that came to my mind when I thought about freedom from condemnation in the context of this verse was the “Get Out of Jail Free” card for the death row inmate. It seems that this may be what Paul had in mind when he wrote this verse. However, after a day or two of mulling over how to draw that, I was inspired to take a different path. A governor’s pardon for a convicted felon shows the immediate impact of faith in Jesus, but we've heard this version of the metaphor enough that it's easy to reflect on it for only a moment and then toss it aside. Beyond the boredom of a cliché, I've also been trying to drill home the point that Christianity isn't meant to be a quick fix. Perhaps the idea of a condemned house may stick with you longer and hit you deeper.

First off, the actions resulting in a house being condemned don't require anything so drastic as a murderous rampage. All it takes is neglect over time. The average homeowner can paint the walls or install carpet or maybe even replace some drywall, but unless you're able and qualified to handle structural, electrical, or other issues all you're doing is fixing superficial problems. Eventually the makeup will wash away to reveal a house unsafe for human occupation.

Likewise, in a swift moment Jesus can rip down the bright colored sign out front that yells “CONDEMNED,” but it takes time for him to rebuild the house. He has all the tools to fix it right up, but he can only put in the hours while you're there to let him in.

If you've ever removed wallpaper without getting angry:

My Dad's a Mom (Romans 5:8)

From the tract '10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die' by John Piper

#5) To show God's love for sinners

This week I wanted to convey an idea that is more complex so I felt the urge to draw something in the vein of abstract expressionism. This is my attempt to visualize God's love. The most fundamental form of love that we can express is the love of a parent for a child. I myself am not a parent so I've never possessed the overwhelming pride of a father or the abundant love of a mother. At best I'd only experience half of that equation. (The closest I'll ever be to male pregnancy is watching that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.) But God has love that surpasses both.

MISCONCEPTION CORRECTION: From a casual perusing of the Bible everyone knows God as our Father and thus we skew all his characteristics toward fatherly love. However there are also comparisons of God as a mother (for instance, Isaiah 66:13). This conflicts with our understanding of parental traits being separated into masculine and feminine (for example, Daddy's authoritative love versus Mommy's compassionate love). We can't comprehend the two combined, yet God possesses both simultaneously. Did your brain just explode? It's very limiting to think of God's love in comparison to fathers and mothers. God is love. We model our love after his example. My overarching point is that we often try to make God fit our ideals when we really should be expanding our ideals to fit God. If that's too much to handle, just start by thinking that God is some super-mutant father-mother hybrid.

As for the second layer of the picture, here's an analogy. You're at the park playing with your child, when all of a sudden this ignorant jerk walks by and knocks you to the ground. He spits on you, and walks off yelling at you for being in his way. In the process this jack-wagon is unknowingly about to walk into oncoming traffic. You try to warn him, but he just gives you the finger. You are too far away so in a last ditch effort, you yell out to your beloved child to run into the street of certain death to push ol' Turd Ferguson to safety. This second layer illustrates that God has this super-parent love for his own son and yet he loves you more. He sent his perfect son to die so that you could live. The most amazing part is he did it while you were still a evil jerk-face.

If you get God a present on Father's Day AND Mother's Day:

Truce? (Romans 5:10)

From the tract '10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die' by John Piper

#6) To reconcile us to God

In an armed conflict, when someone approaches with a white flag people consider it a sign of surrender, but that's jumping the gun. A white flag is an internationally recognized symbol of ceasefire and temporary truce for negotiations. And that's it. People incorrectly associate it with surrender because many times a side only wants to negotiate because they're almost beat. It's better to think of the epic movies where huge armies gather and representatives from both sides meet on the battle field for final negotiations. Neither one is surrendering. They're just trying to work it out verbally one last time before they do some sword swinging.

In this religious context, God is sending Jesus out with the white flag of negotiation not because he's surrendering. He's negotiating our surrender. He can wipe us off the face of the earth in a nanosecond, but he'd rather that we come join his army.

Articles of Holy Surrender

The Most High God hereby sets forth the following articles to establish the unconditional surrender of humankind henceforth such that they be absolved of their sin against the Laws of the Lord of All the Earth and the associated repercussions of eternal damnation:

Article I: Due to the deficiency of humankind to rectify their current state of disobedience of their own accord, the Great Mighty Awesome God shall dispatch his premier negotiator, his only begotten son, to reconcile humankind by way of the resignation of his own life.

Article II: Humankind shall fully accept the resolutions of Article I and transfer allegiance to the Lord God Almighty.

Hold on a second. Let me get this straight. In order to be reconciled to God all I have to do accept the fact that he sent Jesus to do all the hard work? Just to be clear, if you read the fine print, there's a lot of work to be done throughout the rest of your life in appropriately following God, but as far as reconciliation goes, yeah, it's that easy.

If you try to steal the fancy pen used to sign the Terms of Surrender: