A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

Matthew 10:7, 8, “And as ye go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”  Though a virtual unknown at the time of his death, this European artist is now regarded as one of the great masters of all time producing over 2,000 paintings and sketches.  Ironically, he always desired to be a pastor and spent time in a small Belgian mining community called Borinage.  Upon discovery of the deplorable living conditions of the miners and their families, he divested himself of all his clothing, save one suit and gave his overcoat to a young pregnant woman whose husband had died in a mine cave-in.  Looking at his priceless paintings today, one can easily see how such a master of the canvas could have easily rested on his laurels and enjoyed the success his gifted brush could afford.  Yet behind the oils of such works as “The Starry Night” he was compelled to preach beyond words in a sermon manuscript, but in tangible acts of charity.  He lived on starvation rations and spent his stipend he received from the church he pastored on food for the miners. When children in one family contracted typhoid fever, though feverish himself, he packed up his bed and took it to them.  He was acutely aware of the wide chasm between words and actions. He knew that our lives always speak louder and clearer than our words. Maybe that is why Francis of Assisi often said to his monks, “Wherever you go, preach. Use words if necessary.”  In his short 37 years on earth, not only did his paintings touch lives, but the selfless acts of Vincent van Gogh spoke greater volumes than his pulpit sermons, or his brushes and oils.  In our Scripture lesson today, while commissioning His disciples, Jesus emphatically interwove the proclamation of the Gospel with the demonstration of the Gospel.  By all means we should tell others about the time God became a man to reconcile the world back to Himself.  But beyond that, we must demonstrate how the Incarnation was not just a one time event, but is ongoing, as we reach beyond our comfort zone and minister to those that are within our reach, by providing them with the gifts for which we have been blessed, to be warmed, clothed, sheltered and filled with each new day.