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LETTER TO A COLLECTOR  (October 2023)

I am so glad this painting is in your home.

Here is a bit of explanation regarding my intended purpose in this painting, and its significance to me.

Inspired by Ephesians 1:3, the painting is about blessings, with an eye to Life’s spiritual aspect, beyond the visible and physical.

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From a Bible commentary:

The apostle Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus so that they may know who they are in Christ. We began this series asking the question about our identity.

Who do you think you are? In our last lesson Paul taught us that we are saints, which means we are set apart from the world and called into relationship with Christ. Christians are also described as full of faith or faithful. The life of the Christian is shown in complete trust in God for all things and in every area of life. This leads us into the next picture of who we are in Christ.

“ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:3–4)

Blessed Be God

Notice that Paul begins with praise for the Father. The Father is worthy of praise and honor. All commendation belongs to the Father. Notice that Paul is blessing the Father because the Father has blessed us with everything spiritual blessing found in the heavenly realms. We praise God because he has benefited us with every spiritual blessing and every spiritual benefit necessary for our spiritual well-being. We are so easily earthly focused. Paul wants us to see the riches of the blessings that we have. The blessings that we truly need are not cars, wealth, and possessions. Our spiritual well-being is on the line. We are condemned sinners in the hands of the God who judges justly. We are worthy of God’s wrath upon us for our disobedience. But praise be to God that he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that provides for our spiritual well-being. God is blessed because we are blessed right now with every benefit that comes from God. We must put our eyes to the spiritual realms and see what the Father is bestowing upon us. Therefore, our highest response to all this must be to hold our gifts up to God in praise and thanksgiving. I want to notice something very important. Our blessings reside in Christ. These blessings are not found outside of a relationship with Christ. Becoming saints is critical for without being in relationship with Christ, then we are not blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

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How does your painting “Heavenlies” relate to these spiritual blessings?

The painting pictures two worlds, physical and spiritual—a path leads from the physical and beyond it , into the heavens.

The trees represent the family of man, not static, but changing, and even being buffeted by winds (of war, of change, of aging, of life’s circumstances).

Overall is the blue and clouds of heaven, from which those trees receive sun, light, and rain. The heavens have what the trees need, but for the soil in which they are planted.

That “soil” is faith in the One Who provides, without which “blessings from heaven” would have no effect.

On the surface, the painting pictures Calafia State Park—to me, it pictures our relationship as believers to our Saviour and provider of all that we need.