Painting with the Painter...

Life Application

Theology in the Trenches

by Kathleen Kjolhaug

I decided to paint my wall. It is a horrid pale peach color, my least favorite in the world color. The wall is not big, but it is the one that you see upon entering the kitchen area of the cabin.

I’ve been looking forward to painting it and have imagined many a color upon it. Conversations with friends have brought about public opinion on this particular topic. You see, I enjoy talking about it, and I enjoy the process of being able to dream about it while envisioning just how much more wonderful this place will look when color is exchanged upon the kitchen wall of the cabin. However, to date, it remains as is. Nothing has changed.

Within that wall are four screws and one small hook protruding from the wooden ridge round it. Rather than take them out, I am frozen in the fact that they are there for a purpose, and I keep envisioning what it is I must hang from those things protruding into my life. I’ve hung a thing or two, but ultimately, as the background paint is so pathetic, nothing looks good upon those hooks.

And so, you see, I have not moved forward. I remain clinging in the past of whatever it was they’d been used for prior to my arrival in this place we now inhabit. My mind keeps telling me that if I take them out, I’d have to pound in new ones. Thus, I ponder ways to make use of the old. Like a thorn in the flesh, they taunt me.

Truth is, thinking about painting a wall, changes nothing. Thinking about removing the hardware protruding from it, removes them not. One must apply the paint if one is to have change. One must take out the metal paraphernalia if one is to move forward.

This reminds me of yet another true-life application. “Be yea doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

As I hear others teach about Him, as I read what others say about Him, as I glean from those around me teachings about our precious Lord, it is vital. Like fuel injections from brothers and sisters we gain knowledge. Yet, the still small voice within questions.

Am I painting my world within…with the colors He desires? Am I allowing Him to apply knowledge I gain and turn it into wisdom? Or, do I merely cling to the old?

 

“And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ As well, He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:5).

His Word changes, like a fresh coat of paint, it renews. Go, therefore, and live the Gospel. Put it on, wear it, and paint your world in the precious name of Jesus. As He created you, allow Him to be creative with you, coloring within the lines of His Word.  Amen.