Are you believable?

Believability is a powerful instrument. Ask any political candidate running for office. Most of us take with a grain the wild promises most candidates make. They'll say anything to get elected it seems. But when it comes to representing Christ in our fallen world, believability is critical to our witness. I would like to suggest four factors that determine our believability. History is one of them. How many skeletons are in our closets? Is our salvation experience a sufficient contrast to our past offenses? Does the life-style we practice demonstrate a real life change in our thinking, attitudes, and actions? Are we known as people who admit it when we are wrong & take steps to make restitution and confession to those we have wronged? Another factor is that of Veracity. Do we consistently tell the truth? Is what we say reliable? Do others believe we are keeping our marriage vows [including your spouse]? Can we be trusted to speak and live out truth? I think still another factor that sustains believability is Duty. Do we follow through on our commitments? If we commit ourselves to a task do we finish it? Are we known as honorable workers? Lastly, and this one may surprise you, is Charity. Are the words we use about loving others backed up by actual practices? Will people see what we do as consistent with what we say about loving others? Do we serve others or ourselves? Remember what Jesus said: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven" [Matthew 5:16]. That sounds like believability to me. Jesus also said when people outside the family of God observe how we love one another, they will know we are his followers [John 13:34-35]. That too sounds like believability. So...are we believable? Think about it!

Is there a cover-up?

Shoveling snow in March...and not just a little. Services cancelled...and instead of preaching, I am shoveling. When taking a breather, I thought of all that the white snow had covered up. There were the dormant bushes waiting to pop out green again when spring finally comes. Then there is my less than perfect grass hiding under the blanket of white [with all the dormant weeds waiting to attack us again]. Snow is deceptive...because it gives the impression all is serene with the landscape...but underneath is the bare ugliness of winter's work. Sometimes that is like our hearts. Outside we throw a drape across the landscape of our lives, and pretend all is serene. But the Creator God looks at our hearts and sees the winter ugliness that sin has etched there. After all the Bible says: Man looks on the outward appearance, but GOD looks on the heart [I Sam. 16:7]. Yet there is a cure. Remember what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 1 of his writing? He quotes God as saying to sinful people like Israel: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." God can make the inside clean, so there need be no more pretense on the outside. It is when a person repents of sin & surrenders to Christ that real heart cleansing occurs. Snow is pretty white...especially when the sun [son] shines on it. Think about it