THE INVISIBLE ARTIST
Ps. 19:12-13/Titus 2:7-8/James 5:1-4

Michael Bornt, a wealthy landowner, prided himself in his business prowess. However, he acquired much property and gained his financial independence by being cruel, heartless and greedy.

In one of his houses, there lived a poor widow and her eight-year-old son, Jonathan. The landowner kept raising the rent. Finally, the cost of the simple dwelling reached an amount she could no longer afford.

One day the wealthy Mr. Bornt cruelly mistreated the widow in front of young Jonathan. He slapped her in the face, laughed at her poverty and humiliated her. Eight- year-old Jonathan looked on in horror as the whole hideous scene was being played out.

Several years went by. Jonathan grew up and went to college. He majored in the arts, and in journalism. In time he became a well-known artist working for a very prestigious newspaper of his city.

In the meantime, Mr. Michael Bornt became a politician, and was running for a position in the local government in that same city. Jonathan, now in charge of the editing division of the paper, published a cartoon depicting a man striking a woman while a little child looked on. The image was very real and the characters were unmistakable.

When Mr. Bornt saw himself portrayed so vividly, in a preview of the morning paper, he offered Jonathan a large sum of money to withdraw the cartoon. He knew this would hurt his campaign. Jonathan refused. "Anyone", he said, "who was that heartless didn't deserve the confidence of the people." Michael Bornt’s political career was doomed.

There is another Person who keeps records of all that He sees. God Himself, man's Creator, is the invisible artist keeping record of all of man's deeds. Nothing escapes Him. Nothing is left unregistered. All has been recorded. By the time the day arrives that our earthly conduct is revealed, our doom will be sealed.

Let’s not wait until our sins and wrong doings are brought before us to ask for forgiveness. The Lord erases the past, along with its old, unpleasant sketches, the moment we ask Him to forgive us. Then we must go to the people we haven’t treated fairly and ask them for forgiveness. Only when we do so will they be able to "sketch" a new picture of us in their minds, one of God’s love and forgiveness.

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