I took this picture when we were at the beach this summer. I thought it was a pretty cool reflection of the blue sky and the clouds on the wet sand. (This was my attempt at creative photography.)
It was pretty. Beautiful even. But it wasn’t perfect. It was grainy. Fuzzy. Only a partial image of the real thing.
Man is meant to be a reflection of God on this earth. The new-creation person is to reflect God to those around us. His love. His grace. His warmth. His goodness. Even His holiness.
But most days we are like that reflection of clouds on wet sand. No matter how hard we try, we’ll only be a fuzzy imperfect image.
I love that Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” He didn’t stop at follow ME, with all the emphasis on himself. He immediately pointed them to Christ. Why? He knew he wasn’t perfect.
People will always disappoint. Even Christian people. Even Christian leaders. There was only One who was the exact image of the invisible God, and that was Jesus.
I believe God gave us leaders and instituted pastors and set authority in the church. Paul was one of them way back in the day. But he knew the danger that comes when we expect the fuzzy reflection to be an exact representation.
It’s okay to follow someone as they follow Christ. We are to journey together. But we need to allow G R A C E to flow when the fuzzy reflection in the sand doesn’t look quite as beautiful as what you’d see if you tilted your head up and looked at the sky.
The truth is, you’re pretty fuzzy too.
