Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: GRADUATE (08/01/19)
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TITLE: All we have is a picture | Previous Challenge Entry
By Emmanuella Ellis
08/08/19 -
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It was a beautiful picture but there was something wrong with the picture. I scrolled down to read the comments and as expected everyone kept congratulating her. Congratulations were in order because over the dress was a black graduation gown and a cap to match.
I could not get over the fact that there was something very wrong with the picture. It wasn’t about the pose, her appearance or the quality of the picture itself. It was something that could not be seen just by looking at the picture. Something that the picture wasn’t saying.
The picture was lying to everyone. To wear the gown means you have enrolled in an institution to gain knowledge, to be tested, to learn to persevere, to apply the knowledge, to be examined and pass every single test. That gown says a lot more things than it looks. It tells all the hard work and struggle that the person who wore it went through to get to that point.
Although it says a lot, it is only those who receive the certificate for going through the struggle who are qualified to wear the gown. The certificate is the evidence of everything that the gown talks about. When the gown is taken off, the certificate will always be there to retell the story.
Onyl never had her name mentioned during the ceremony, she didn’t walk on the stage to receive her certificate yet at the end of the ceremony she had the gown and a bouquet to go with it. How did that happen? She had asked a friend if she could take a picture with her gown, cap and bouquet so she could see how that would feel. She had never walked the path but she presented the picture to the world as if she had.
Although people may think she has a degree and probably affiliated to a school, she would never have anything to show as true evidence. But we cant really judge Onyl right. She is not doing anything different from what we Christians do. We present a picture to the world as being children of God. Pictures of us in church, a musical event, a T-shirt with Bible verses on them, quotes every morning and the likes. But we never have really put to death our old self.
We have not submitted ourselves to be broken, to persevere in the difficult times, to acquire wisdom from God or to be tested and pruned. We either give up or never choose that path because its too difficult. Therefore, we bear no spiritual fruits or manifest the power of the HolySpirit. All we have is a picture not an evidence of the work of Christ in us.
We do not deceive the world but ourselves. We can keep wearing the gown of Christianity over our lives and never have anything to really show for it. When the difficulties come and the world needs us, its only the evidence of the fruit and the power of the HolySpirit that would hold us up.
We wonder why the world doesn’t believe in Jesus. Maybe its because we just show them a picture of Jesus but never act as Jesus would. So, then its not Jesus they really see, its just us in disguise.
Graduating means you have evidence of going through the process and being changed, but like Onyl, all we do is pose for the picture and present it to the world.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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