Starry Night

In reading the book The Divine Commodity, I have learned some interesting facts about Vincent Van Gogh!  He had imagined his most famous painting, "Starry Night," for years before he actually painted the beautiful scene.

The story behind the painting is this: Vincent always designated the color yellow to represent God and all things holy.  Blue represented mystery.  Thus, the sky itself is a portrait of the holiness and mystery of God that is present throughout the earth.

If you notice the small buildings in the painting, you will see that every house has lights on, illustrating God's love and peace throughout the earth.  But one building ironically does not have lights on, and that is the church.

Why?  Because Vincent felt that the church in his day were too cold towards the less fortunate.  The church became too stuck in religion and not relationship (with God and with other people), that truly the source of God's light shown brighter through people who cared deeply about other people, as he himself had.

Do you know that for a part of his life Vincent gave up all material possessions that he could have easily enjoyed so that he could live with and be as one with poor miners?  He lived with them, loved the people, helped them heal from mining accidents when the doctors refused to, and he was their friend.  Through this wonderful act of sacrifice and love, he had embodied the true love of Christ.  Through showing the love of Jesus, he lead many of these spiritually lost people to the Lord.  Many are in Heaven right now, praising Jesus forever, because of Vincent's sacrificial love.

I can't even write the words "sacrificial love" without thinking of my dear Lord Jesus.  He paid the ultimate sacrifice for the people He loved (loves).  He died on the cross AND rose again!  He was the sacrifice paid for our sins, and people no longer have to sacrifice animals for their sins to be forgiven as was the custom.  Jesus was the Lamb that covered all of man's sins for eternity!

Now all we have to do to accept this payment for our sins is to ask Him to forgive us and ask Him to be the Lord of our lives.  We now have to sacrifice our lives of sinful and selfish desires and act according to His will, which is exactly what Vincent did to the community of miners.

What are you going to do to show Jesus' love today?