Jesus

Designed and folded April 2020

Paper: 40cm double tissue

Origami is pretty good as a representative and expressive art form, but I don't think any origami model could really do justice to depict the Son of God. But this was my attempt from a few years ago.

However, I think it is always good to remember that, as James 1:17, says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." These "good and perfect gifts" certainly include big things like the gift of faith and salvation, or the blessings of having the people in our lives that we have, but I believe it would be a fair interpretation to say that our abilities, including artistic ones, are also gifts from God. There is no reason that I can fold things that a lot of people can't, other than that God has allowed me to.

With this in mind, how should we go about using the talents and abilities that God has placed in us? Colossians 3:17 tells us, "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Romans 12:6, when discussing spiritual gifts (which are a bit deeper, but similar idea) tells us, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them." We could also look at Exodus 35 about the "skilled craftsmen" who helped make things for God's tabernacle.

From my understanding of all the aforementioned passages, the point is this: our abilities are given to us from God, and as such we ought to use them for His purposes. For the skilled craftsmen, this would be quite obvious: God's tabernacle needed lamps and tables and stuff, so if you were someone who could work with metal or wood, you would make it for the Lord. With the spiritual gifts discussed in Romans 12, it's also pretty clear: people gifted in preaching ought to go preach about the Lord, people gifted in service should serve other people in honor of the Lord, and so on.

So how does origami fit into this? Obviously the creator of the universe does not need your folded piece of paper. But we must remember that in general, whenever we do something good for someone else, Jesus will count it as done for himself, as he says in Matthew 25:40, "'as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"

Being constantly surrounded by origami, I think I sometimes forget the value of origami as a gift can have for other people. For example, once in high school I folded a small something during class and gave it to a friend; years later, I saw him again and he mentioned he had still kept it. Now if a 10 minute post-it fold could be valued that much, imagine the impact a carefully designed, quality paper, well shaped model might have on the recipient. How much would they appreciate the fact that you remembered their favorite thing or animal and cared enough to put in the effort to make it? How much comfort or happiness could this little piece of transformed paper bring them? What might God be able to do, without you knowing, in the life of the other person as a result of the little gift you gave them? Perhaps it will get unfolded or lost or forgotten, and that's ok. But perhaps God might do something cool.

Tl;dr: origami and similar abilities are gifts from God, and as such we have a responsibility to use it for His purposes in return. We can serve Jesus when we serve others and use origami as a means of giving gifts from the heart and loving others, and let God do the rest of the work.