Jul 12 2009
So Much to Blog, So Little Time
The list of blog ideas I shared a while back is still waiting to be finished. It seems that life is a constant learning experience and the more I learn the more things I want to write about. So we’ll just consider my previous list as a guideline rather than a syllabus. For Instance, Daddy’s Girl will probably be pushed back to November (for reasons probably more obvious to my siblings).
The reason for this jumping around is that I heard a great sermon today and I just wanted to write about it while it was fresh in my mind.
The current series is called Authenticity and is based on the book of James. I love this topic because it is meant to make us look at our own hypocrisy in our faith. The biggest complaint of non-believers about believing Christians is that their walk doesn’t match their talk.
James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Some would say that this contradicts Paul’s statement in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Even I questioned the validity of both statements together. Not that I am questioning God’s word but because I want to know how they complement each other.
The answer is in the next verse from Paul to the Ephesians, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Isn’t that crystal clear? Maybe not. How about this.
You apply for a job, go through the interview process and are hired. You wanted this job and are thrilled to have been chosen from among many qualified applicants. You will be better able to pay your bills and provide for your family now that you have this job. This job is a real blessing! On your first day of work you arrive at the office and are shown where your desk and supplies are. You are given some tasks to complete and start right in, gung-ho about your new position. After a couple of hours on the job you start to get bored and wonder when you can take a break. You decide to make a few free phone calls to friends and family. At noon you take a 3 hour lunch break. Upon returning from lunch you decide to surf the internet until it’s time to go home. The next day would you be surprised to find someone else sitting at your desk?
Once you make the team you don’t stop playing.
It’s not enough to be born again or even baptized. We have to SHOW ourselves to be the Christians we KNOW ourselves to be. I’ve heard it said that we shouldn’t be different in church than we are in our everyday lives. I challenge Christians, myself included, to look at it the other way around. We shouldn’t be different in our everyday lives than we are in church. At the end of the service today we heard a truly convicting song that says it all.
“i repent of trading truth for false unity
i repent of confusing peace and idolatry
of caring more of what they think than what i know of what they need
and domesticating You until You look just like me
i am wrong and of these things i repent”
As children we learned song that gets to the heart of the matter. “…and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” As you are driving around town and waiting in line at the grocery store and dealing with the bills will those you encounter know you are Christian by your actions? Will the person you cut off in traffic know? Will the cashier you get snotty with because the line is too long know? Will your children know?
I will take this time to thank Pastor Ray and Josh Lee for the message they shared this morning which inspired this blog.
