Intriguing picture! Just a bird, but look again!! This bird casts both a shadow and a reflection!!! As I pondered the implications of such a thing, I realized that this bird could reflect two possibilities for a Christian; namely, that one can absorb the teachings of Jesus and not reflect anything of the inner intent of JESUS - or absorb them and reflect the intent of the one who is the "Light of Life".
Luke, Chapter 11 (WEB)
33 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light. 34 The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness. 36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”
37 Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner. 39 The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. 40 You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. 42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”
It is entirely possible to do all the right things with the wrong motivation and miss practicing the heart of God completely. Therefore, in "doing religion" this way the minor things of God can become the emphasis and the major things (those of the heart) may be ignored. I guess you might say that you can either cast a shadow or be a luminary. Look at the picture once more- Which would you like to be?
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