Tangled Up In Blue

There was a special on PBS the other day about Bob Dylan. It had all this footage of concerts and interviews from when Dylan was just a very young man – just starting out in the music mainstream. He was very political; I was not aware how very political. I have heard there are a lot of things about his shenanigans as a young man that were very bad, but the program was not about that – it was about his performance persona. I have always enjoyed Dylan’s music. I know he has an odd voice and that some people find his vocals grating, but I think his style has a certain charm.

As John and I watched these interviews and performances we were struck by what a neat person he was – how unique! .. and so very creative and talented. God made him that way. I was thinking about how each person has their own unique personality and presence. God made each human being, saved and unsaved, with beauty. Yes, we are sinful creatures, but we are all made in the image of God and there is intrinsic beauty in that. Some He made very unique and gifted with talents that bless others. Talented/gifted artists and musicians are some of those.

We, as Christains should not be afraid to recognize that unsaved people have a beauty as they reflect the image of God. When I was first a believer, I hung around with a very cantankerous older fellow who constantly saw the bad in everyone around him. For a time this attitude filled my thoughts too. I remember we would be in a restaurant with several people at a table. He would talk about the unsuspecting people at other tables. He would comment on what kind of people, being sinners, which they were. I remember him looking at an older woman across the room one time and whispering under his breath, “I know how they are… with their blue hair.” I thought it was kind of a funny statement and I sorta chuckled, but at the same time, I thought, “How does he know how that woman is? She may be the godliest person in this restaurant.”

Over the following years, as I evaluated my own attitude towards others, I came upon a way of looking at the unsaved that has really helped me to love and respect them as I think honors God. I try to see them as they could be if they knew the Lord. I try to imagine their faces alight with wonder at the Person of Christ. It is a motivator for evangelsim.

When I was watching Bob Dylan perform as a young man and talk to the interviewers, I thought about this interesting creation of God: “I wonder what he would be like as a saved man?” There is some question as to what Dylan's saved/unsaved status is now. I have two albums the vocals of which sound very much as those from the heart of a convert, but I don’t know him personally, so I cannot really opine.

God created these people all around us, friends. He loves them... no matter what our theology says. I think He sees them as they could be too – if they were born from above. He knows just how they would be. He loves them. Their beauty is a a reflection of His person. Anything beautiful in man is there because it is a reflection of the One who is altogether beautiful. God protects that. Yes the righteousnesss of man is as filthy rags, but we mustn’t look at the unsaved as rotting flesh. They are made in the image of God.

Thank God for His creation - and for His recreation - of those who are made in His image.