Sunday, March 18, 2012

Walking the Talk

Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

If someone claims, "I know Him well," but doesn't
keep His commandments, he's obviously a liar.  His life
doesn't match his words.  Anyone who claims to be intimate
with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
1 John 2:4,6 [The Message]

Trust is a funny thing:  difficult to establish, very easy to lose.  Some jobs or positions in society seem to come with an inherent level of trust:  teachers, firemen, policemen, doctors, and ministers/priests.  Unfortunately, that trust is often misplaced, even when deal with persons in authority who should be trustworthy.  Every few weeks, or so it seems, we hear of a teacher or a minister who has broken trust [considered by most of us as a sacred trust], often with a child.  Public officials get caught with their hand in the till or their integrity destroyed in a compromising position.  More and more I hear the muttered rhetorical question: "Who can you trust these days?"

John takes to task the community of believers whose lives do not match their words.  When we put on the name of  Christ, God asks us not to take that name in vain by living a life in direct opposition to everything that Jesus stood for.  We can not, in the words of my father, "Have our cake and eat it too."  We either are Christians who try to walk in Christ's footsteps, or we are imposters.  A tough stance, you say?  Perhaps, but I believe it is a truthful one.

Jesus lived a life of devotion to His Father and loving attention to the people who constantly surrounded Him.  He had harsh words at times for the imposters, but even then, He called to them to come into fellowship with Him and His Father God.  He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the lame to walk, healed the disciples' relatives, raised the dead, nurtured and guided the men surrounding Him toward becoming the leaders of an infant church.  He loved, and loved, and loved again.  Now that He is gone from the earth, we who call ourselves Christians are to take up His mantle of service toward the world around us, loving and loving and loving again!

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