The Color of You

My son’s class bought a caterpillar set and over the next few weeks, they watched as the caterpillars turned into butterflies. What fascinated them most were the colors of the butterflies. The teacher asked, “Why did God give these butterflies so many colors? He did not have to do it. So why did He?”

Has our Creator placed symbolism in this gift of colors? Let’s look at color and see.

Color consists of hue, saturation and intensity. Three separate aspects define one thing. Could this be another symbol of the Trinity? Dive into the sea of color with me…

Oddly enough, one of the best website for the definition of color is a software development website. (http://www.devx.com/projectcool/Article/19954/0/page/6)

According to devx.com, hue is “the name of a distinct color of the spectrum—red, green, yellow, orange, blue, and so on. It is the particular wavelength frequency.” Without hue, there would be only black and white. If we associate God the Father with hue, then God gives color. He provides the canvas of the universe and then sprinkles us—color—throughout. Just as each color is unique, so are we. Without that color, we would remain black and white.

The same website defines saturation as the “…’purity’ of the color. Saturation refers to the amount of white life (or gray paint) mixed with the hue”. For example, it defines the difference between steel blue and royal blue. How does this apply to humans? The more we are saturated with Jesus Christ, the more we are in love with the second person of the Trinity, the more drenched with color we are. (http://www.devx.com/projectcool/Article/19954/0/page/6)

If we categorize the Father and Son as hue and saturation, intensity symbolizes the Holy Spirit. In the color scheme, intensity provides brightness of color. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, the more intense our color becomes.

In the end, we ourselves become a symbol of the Trinity – another way we reflect the image of God. God gives us our hue, Christ gives us our saturation, and the Holy Spirit gives us our intensity. When we fully accept all these pieces, we become who our Creator intended us to be.

How boring would it be for us to walk around with only one piece of the color trio! Nevertheless, that’s exactly what happens when we don’t take faith seriously. We become black and white, or a washed out color or we end up faded.

Now I have to confess that this is how I see atheists…faded. It has always confounded me that atheists refuse to see creation in a fuller way. Yet, I now understand that they have sterilized their world.

In the November 13th 2007 issue of TIME Magazine, Francis Collins and Richard Dawkins went head to head on the topic of the existence of God. What amazed me is that they were asking two different questions. Francis Collins said that he had moved past the how and into the why. He was asking why the earth was created, why we contained DNA, why creation existed at all.

Science is very good at asking the how…that’s what science if for. However, when we stop there, we deny the very thing that makes us human. Do animals ask why they are here? Humans have the ability to discern that question and to see the color in the answer.

One thing that amazes me about scientists who claim to be atheists is how matter of fact they seem to be. Now the answer screams aloud to me. If they dared to ask why, then they’d have to confront bigger questions. Why did the Creator make the universe?

The answer to this question is so awesome that it hits you in the face. The answer is love. That answer is one that atheists cannot confront. It is unbelievable to them that a love exists that is so great that it encompasses everything around them. If you can fathom that an ultimate power exists and loves you, then you can put science and faith in its place. If you cannot confront the truth that Someone so great loves you, then you will continue to be a one-dimensional character—a creature living in a faded existence.

Color in creation is what makes our world vibrant and alive. Our Creator didn’t have to do it, but He did. He uses color to help us define everything around us. He loves us that much. Can you comprehend that kind of love?