The Kickass Disciple
Where Paul was imprisoned
Pictures can be much more powerful than words.
It may have been something I always knew, having grown up in the television age, but it wasn't until I was in college that I was faced with the reality of how true that statement is. I took a fiction writing course that I expected to ace, since fiction writing was my passion. What I didn't expect was my assignment would not be about plot and characterization, the tools of the trade, but picture words.
I had to paint a powerful and emotional picture with words alone. Fifteen pages of them, and they had to tell a story. It was daunting.
It wasn't that I couldn't include action in my story. I could. It just had to be filled with imagery.
If that brings to mind a fairy dancing through a meadow waving a wand, you can see why it took me all semester to tackle this assignment.
But there is power in pictures and power was what I needed to communicate.
For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? - 1 Corinthians 4:20-21
In the first letter to the Corinthians, we encounter an angry Paul. He's not at all happy with the way some of the members of the young church are behaving.
He sounds like the angry father saying, "Don't make me come in there!"
Before this warning, Paul rants on and on, comparing his situation with theirs. He is painting a picture of wealth and luxury for them, while he is impoverished and weak.
His words are chosen carefully to shame them, even though he claims he is not saying these things to embarrass them. He is kicking butt, long distance.
The power he talks about is not the power of words, though. He wants visible action from them. Who they have become in Christ is important. It's not just a label or an adornment, but a change in life and lifestyle.
I wonder if any of us could measure up to that image.
I guess we are lucky we don't have Paul to kick around - or better yet, that we don't have Paul kicking us around.
These are powerful words and lasting impressions. I think I will give them some thought.