Scripture is Art

Have you ever considered that scripture is art? Many years ago, my wife and I were traveling to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We loved this quaint little city for its hometown feel, and fantastic little shops with things we never saw back in our home of Indiana. One such shop was a little art shop we walked into. It had a lot of Native American art pieces, but also had a lot of modern works. I saw my first holographic table in that shop. I think it was just a simple cube, that seemed to hover above the table a bit. It was created by lights being focused to a single spot, that created the 3-dimensional image. It was just amazing to us, that such a thing could be created.

Upstairs, there was a wall that had artwork hanging on it. It wasn’t typical artwork, created with paint, chalks, or pencils. This was just a sort of printed image, that looked like just a bunch of colors all mashed up. At first, you can’t help but look at it and wonder, how is this art? Then, if you stare at it long enough, the pieces of color begin to almost arrange themselves in your eyes. Something begins to happen to the image.

Gazing

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of the word “gaze” is; to fix the eyes in a steady intent look often with eagerness or studious attention. For me, gazing with my eyes, is sort of like crossing my eyes when I look at something. If I stare at an object intently enough and to the point it almost feels as though my eyes are crossing, objects begin to take a different shape. It’s as if you focus your eyes on something so strong, that you can begin to see through it or past it.

Seeing the Real Image

As I stood there looking at these printed images on the wall, I began to see what was under the mashup of colors. An image began to appear. Not just an image, but a 3-dimensional image. One with depth and it appeared like it wanted to just extend out from the paper. You could almost touch it. Different pictures had different images, and each one became easier to see than the last. One was a mountain scene, and another was a playground scene with kids kicking a ball. Someone, in their artful creativity, had found a way to hide a real image amongst the mashups. Once I was able to see one image, my eyes could see the others almost instantly.

Scripture is Art

Scripture is much the same way as that 3-dimensional art. When a person first reads scripture, its not only a difficult language to understand, but the scripture may also not reveal its meaning. Some people read scripture and because they can’t understand it, they brush it off as just a “mashup” of words. What they need to do is “Gaze” at it. No, not stare at it cross eyed, but rather study it intently. Read it and put some effort in to trying to understand what the real meaning is behind the words.

2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul writes
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Psalms 119:130
The unfolding of your words gives light; 
         it gives understanding to the simple.

Scripture is meant to be studied. It isn’t meant to be read and all its meaning spilled out immediately. These God-Breathed words are meant to be studied, gazed at, pondered, and to be perplexing. Until you finally read it. When you can finally read a scripture, its true image is revealed and almost extends out from the paper. Then, its meaning is swallowed up by your heart and mind as easily as your eyes can see the images in those pictures at the art shop. Gaze at it, study it intently, look at it often with eagerness, and give it your complete and utter studious attention.