Life portrait.

My dad received a great honor a few days ago as one of the founders of the Liberty University school system. We arrived in Lynchburg in 1972, one year after the college was birthed, and Dr.Falwell asked dad to start a Bible institute. He and my mom have served in this ministry ever since.

Before he died, Dr. Falwell had commissioned an artist to paint the portraits of the five founders. His son, Jerry Falwell Jr, as chancellor picked up that project and it was unveiled during a recent convocation.

Have you ever had your portrait painted? Its not like a digital picture - a one time snapshot of how you looked on a Tuesday afternoon.

A portrait takes time to produce, it takes careful and devoted attention from an artist to create.

A digital picture goes on a harddrive, maybe an iPod, maybe it gets printed out on paper. But a portrait will be framed in wood and hung prominently for people to view.

This whole event prompted me to think about our lives as portraits. It was an honor for my dad to have a picture painted of his image, but in reality his life is the portrait. For decades, he and my mom have faithfully served, and have cultivated marriage and family, have practiced honesty and integrity, and have poured themselves out for other people.

That’s a portrait. Its the image of a life.

Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15.

We are created in, and are the “image and glory of God” 1 Corinthians 11:7

And we are being formed, shaped, painted each day into “the likeness of his Son” Romans 8:29

What does my life portrait look like today? What does your portrait look like? Are we the imago dei?