The wages of the righteous brings them life, But the income of the wicked brings them punishment. ~Proverbs 10:16
The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in times of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish. The Lord’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish—vanish like smoke. ~Psalm 37:18-20
Have you ever read the book, “The Portrait of Dorian Gray?” It’s a story about an attractive young man, who allows his portrait to be made by an artist who is very taken with his appearance. Part of Dorian’s appeal is the fact that he is just a very nice young man along with the physical attractiveness. He is at the beginning of his adult life and is just at the beginning of learning the ways of the world.
As the story progresses, Dorian begins to be exposed to temptations. At first, he resists, but eventually, he succumbs to one or more, yet, oddly enough, he never suffers the consequences of his actions. He begins testing the waters more and more, but no matter what he does, he remains attractive and innocent looking, which enables him to get away with more and more. He accumulates wealth and power, and, of course, without the check of discipline, his character becomes more and more perverted.
However, Dorian does notice that there are changes in the portrait. The first time he is involved in a brawl, a red spot appears on the hand of the man in the portrait. As he makes more and more bad decisions, the figure in the painting begins to look older, and meaner and more sinister, but that all stays on the portrait. No one else knows about these changes.
Finally, Dorian covers up the portrait. He doesn’t want to know anymore how its appearance is changing. He even commits murder in his later years, but to the world, Dorian appears as an attractive young man without a care in the world. Okay, here comes the spoiler alert, just in case you want to read it for yourself. Finally, in the end, Dorian has a momentary pang of conscience.
Dorian decides to look at the portrait one last time. He is horrified at what he sees and decides to destroy the portrait, hoping that he can reform. He slashes it with a knife. When he is found, there is an old decrepit man, deceased on the floor, in front of a portrait of Dorian when he was young. In trying to destroy the portrait, Dorian ended up really destroying himself.
Yesterday, we talked about the fruit that will be revealed at the harvest. Often, in the seen world, we can mask what we have planted pretty well. Dorian is an extreme example of this. Characters around him suspected something was wrong, or odd about him. A few suspected that he had sold his soul to the devil, so his behavior wasn’t completely unnoticed, but no one knew the depths of the rottenness of his fruit.
Do you remember a while back when we discussed that the one choice we really have has to do with who we will serve? It’s interesting that today, that theme is present again with the question of who is employing us. If we are serving in obedience to Christ, then our wages are life.
“The income of the wicked brings them punishment.” It just may not happen as quickly as we would like. Evil does a good job of masquerading as good. So much of the confusion that we see around us today is because evil is the new Dorian Gray. It portrays itself as good, and concerned about us, while all the time becoming more and more corrupt.
Satan is sporting a new face that is intended to deceive and keep God’s people feeling either uncertain and fearful, or secure and thus asleep. His true portrait is hiding behind a curtain of deception. But make no mistake, his pay is rotten. He will have no pang of conscience. He will not want to reform. Evil will not succeed. It cannot, because God is not evil, nor can He be tempted by it. (James 1:15-16)
God will allow, however, what needs to take place to strengthen His own. Unfortunately, just like plants, resistance training can be good for us. Resisting evil is good for us, it is refining and makes us better able to serve. We don’t want to hear that. We want to stay comfortable. We want God to fight all our battles for us while we just stay, basking in His love.
God, however, want soldiers. He needs us to stay alert to the Dorian Grays in our personal lives and the lives of those around us. We must not be taken in by the deception that satan has created. We also need to be aware of our own portrait. How are we deceiving the world to portray someone we are not? Those parts that we need to be rid of can be cleaned away, with God’s help. Our goal is that when people look at us, what they see is a sincere portrait of Christ, earning the wages of our King, eternal life.
The prayer today will be the words of the song by Joni Erickson Tada. It’s the perfect song, but there is no video of it that includes the words. It is also a very fitting prayer. So, pray the prayer, then listen to the sing and you will have the words too.
Prayer: Father you are the artist with canvas and paint
Color my life with your blue skies and rain.
Paint seasons of sunshine and places of pain,
Til I am a picture of you.
Make me a portrait of Jesus
Paint His love over my sin
Make his life shine like a light through mine
Make me a portrait of him
Father I am the canvas for You to create
Capture the look of your Son in my face.
But when you paint problems Lord frame them with grace
Til I am picture of You.
Make me a portrait of Jesus
Paint His love over my sin
Make his life shine like a light through mine
Make me a portrait of him
Father You paint my future according to plan
I trust You, though sometimes I don’t understand.
The rainbow of reasons that flow from Your hand
To make me a picture of You.
Make me a portrait of Jesus
Paint His love over my sin
Make his life shine like a light through mine
Make me a portrait of him
Song: Make Me a Portrait of Jesus
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