Session 4: INWARD
25 August 2020
Acts 17: 22-28 – Paul Addresses the Areopagus (ESV)
The idea that we are created to seek Him, grope for Him and find Him, for in Him we live and move and exist.
Modified from Eric Liddell’s quote: “God made me ME, with a desire to seek Him, and when I REST and ABIDE in Him, whatever I do from that place of hiddeness, I feel His pleasure.”
Like a cat completely relaxed and comfortable, sleeping on the master’s lap. Just by BEING, it gives the master pleasure. And whatever it does, the master looks at it and just enjoys it.
God’s hands cradling an artist, doing what she was created to do.
Acts 17:26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
God’s words are powerful. He spoke and the whole world and the whole universe came into being. He said “let there be Light “and there was light. I used spiral sound wave to represent His words and the Holy Spirit moves in tandem with it . There is a little “Red Dot” on the earth in the painting, where I live, and boundaries.
I have also drawn spirals in my sunflower which comes out from the “red dot”. There is the spiral design present in a lot of things in nature like the sunflower and the sound waves. This shows that nature originates from one creator.
使徒行传 17:26
他从一本造出万族的人，〔本有古卷作血脉〕住在全地上，并且预先定准他们的年限，和所住的疆界。上帝的话语满有能力。祂说话，整个世界和整个宇宙都应运而生。祂用话语创造。祂说：“要有光”，就有了光。 我用螺旋声波来代表祂的话，圣灵同祂的话语并行，事就成了。 画中的地球上有一个小小的“红点”。那正是我住的地方也是神给的疆界。由“小红点”长出来的向日葵花心上也强调了螺旋纹，是受造物与创造主呼应。真的很奇妙，在自然界中的许多动植物甚至天体都存在螺旋形设计，例如向日葵和声波。这一切在反映出宇宙众万物源于同一个创造者。
The unconditional love of God.
God enjoys his creation. He takes pleasure in us. For example, for a painter like me the purpose in life is doing painting. However, one day if I couldn’t do painting anymore, will I still be happy and feel loved? I may not be sure that I will be definitely loved by people but I believe that I will still be loved as God’s beloved child. There is a story called “The Little Prince”. I use the little prince in the story to represent God and the rose in the story to represent myself. God created me and enjoys being with me. Even if there are thorns representing the unlovely parts of me. I believe that the covenantal love of God for me can tame my imperfections. The love of God can compel us to accept and be willing to change us to become a better person.
主题：使徒行传 17：22〜28
上帝无条件的爱。
上帝满意祂的创造，祂喜悦我们。 对于一个画家来说，生活的目很大的层面是绘画但是如果有一天，我不能再画画了, 我还会快乐并感到被爱吗？我不确定到时我是否会受到人们的爱戴，但是，我相信：我仍然会是上帝疼爱的孩子。有个故事叫做“小王子”, 我用故事中的小王子代表上帝，用故事中的玫瑰代表我自己。上帝创造了我，喜欢和我在一起。即使有荆棘代表了我不讨人喜欢的部分, 我相信：上帝对我盟约的爱可以驯服我，使我完美。
Verse 27-28 came into my mind… they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being.”
This picture describes my imagination that the Bible verse brought in my mind. The lady in the water lily is praying, and her spirit is looking up above where God lives. The water lily also represents God, and the lady is me or all humankind who lives within Him. I am living in him, and my prayer is that I surrender all to God.
When I think of Acts 17:22-28, I see God the Creator & the Lord of heaven & earth. So the background has all the different colours of creation. This Creator & Lord gives all life & so when I think of how we live & move & exist, I think back of how mankind was made in God’s image. So I drew a mirror & in it, first mankind Adam & Eve – to all mankind in all the earth. So the people are all in different colours to symbolise the different cultures & nations, all reflecting God’s glorious image (yellow colour)
Acts 17:26-28 ”26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;” (NKJV)
Jesus’ sacrifice forms the backdrop against which all history unfolds. The cross and stripes on his back form the background to this drawing. The little figures represent us, at various stages of seeking, groping towards and finding Him. He really is not far from each one of us.
Acts 17: 22-28 –Paul Addresses the Areopagus (ESV)
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[c] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’