You know what I like about my dogs: I can do whatever I want
to do around them. My dogs couldn’t care
less if I’m slumming around the house in yoga pants and a ratty
sweatshirt. If I dance around while Gwen
Stefani yodels in the background, they’ll watch adoringly like I’m a prima
ballerina. If I’m feeling a little
snippy and just want sit down and pout for a while – the dogs don’t care! As a matter of fact, they’ll come over and
keep my feet warm as I sulk.
People – now that’s a different story. Take my pouting example, if I come home and
tell Charley that I’m feeling a little snippy and I just want to sit down and pout
for a while, a cuddly foot-warming is the last thing I’m going to get. (As it should be!)
The way I act, like it or not, has an effect on the people
around me, and in some cases, the way they choose to act. This isn’t as big of a deal when you’re
talking about ratty sweatshirts, or an ill-choreographed yodel-dance, but it is
a big deal when you start talking about people that are skeptical about Christ
and God watching people who claim to be Christians.
“The people who have been horribly mean to me or mistreated
me the most have all been Christians.” Has
that been your experience, it’s certainly been mine. As a believer, I’ve given up my “right” to be
a butt-face. And as a believer, I have
an incredible chance to be light instead of darkness (Matthew 5)!
Jesus spent His whole life being light. Over and over and over again the way He
treated people, the words He said, the things He did – these things prompted
people to seek God and His presence then (and now) is shaping lives 2,000 years
later. He didn’t have Christian stickers
on the back of His sandals, or “clever” Christian sayings on His favorite robe
(can we please burn all of the “Eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking?” t-shirts?!?) He didn’t need to. His life said what He
believed.
OK – I’m done now. Our lesson this Sunday is: “Yes, I see that you’re drowning. I just don’t care.” (Ooh. Harsh!) Chandra will be giving her
view on how our lives can be our greatest asset in helping the people we care
about meet God.
Reading Schedule:
Monday: 1 Corinthians 11:1 | Tuesday: Romans 3:19-24 | Wednesday:
Romans 5:1-10 | Thursday: Romans 6:1-11 | Friday: Romans 6:12-23 | Saturday: Romans 10:3-15
Memory Verse:
Romans 10:13-14
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved." How, then, can they call on
the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom
they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
I’ll write about the zoo trip a little later… : )
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