We’ve all had them. Those little incidents that test our honesty, our integrity. When I was about 16 years old, I went to a convenience store to get a newspaper out of the . . . . . . . newspaper contraption. I put my 50 cents in, opened the door to retrieve my paper, and at once all the quarters came pouring out of the spout. It was like a slot machine in Las Vegas! There was one person in the store, the attendant. I gathered up all the coins - there were so many I couldn’t carry them in my hands - and I had to make a quasi-basket out of the skirt I was wearing. I went to the clerk, dumped all the money on the counter, and told him what happened. His response. . . . . “Are you a Christian?” I told him I was. Interestingly enough, for some odd reason, I knew who the 22ish-aged clerk was. It was Tom Nelson, who has now been the pastor at Denton Bible for over 30 years and is a most effective/powerful interpreter of scripture, and I might add, my best teacher of the Bible in all my life (and we don’t even go to his church). From his testimony I’ve heard numerous times on different cd’s, he became a Christian when he was 22. I think his question to me was a another way to validate that he had made a good, and apparently rather recent, decision to follow Christ. I might have had a cross necklace on, which made this momentary exchange more understandable. He was probably at that place in his walk where he was deciphering the output coming from those who claimed to be Christians. But what if he, as this new convert, had seen me with my cross necklace trying to abscond from the scene with my $25 worth of coinage? How would my actions, along with others that he had encountered, have marred his new found faith? Or, was God at that time, sending lots of believers his way to let him know that people could walk a fulfilling and righteous, although not perfect, life? We have no idea on an hour by hour basis, no matter how insignificant an incident may be, who may be watching our actions and words, and how it will affect their fledgling perspective of God. And how that fledgling perspective of God will grow and be used to touch thousands and thousands and thousands of people around the world – just as Tom’s messages have.
My son, Patrick, and I got into this conversation the other night. He had a little hostility toward some of ye ole’ religious hypocrites – people who profess to follow God, but live diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Bible. I agreed with him. There have always been hypocrites, and there always will be. Jesus recognized them right off the bat. He also gives us the discernment to do the same, and to call them out if so led. And, as much as these hypocrites do affect the world, it’s not our job to focus on them, but to keep our eyes firmly focused on Christ, and His example. In Patrick’s life and I pray in all of our lives, there are a number of faithful, Christ-centered believers in and around. We’ll recognize them by the fruit that they produce. That’s how Jesus told us we’d know the true believers. There are people who live righteously, truly doing their best to honor God, honor others, and honor the life they’ve been given. Sometimes we might be the only one of the group feeling like we’re standing all alone. Regardless of the situation, regardless of the wrong that’s been done to us, regardless of all that is happening around us, we must always do what’s right. There are times when we all go through deserts. . . . . . we don’t feel like praying, we don’t feel like reading the Bible, we don’t feel like fellowshipping with other believers. We all have those times. And even when we feel out of touch with God and can’t seem to hear Him, we have to put our morality, integrity, honesty, and actions on auto-pilot and do what’s right. We can lie to ourselves, deceive ourselves, and try to rationalize 99% of a tempting situation. But after the temptation has passed, we will be there on the other side, with our integrity hopefully in hand.
How do I know what’s right? The standard of measure is the word of God. During my fruitful times, I have to download enough scripture into the files in my head so when these questionnable challenges do arise, the Holy Spirit can bring one of those life-sustaining truths to the forefront of my mind.
We must always do what’s right. Regardless of how un-hip, how inconvenient, how much we need that “thing”, how little sleep we’ve had, how big/small our excuse is. We must always do what’s right. This became overly-evident to me in a sermon I heard from Tom Nelson a year or two ago. Hmmm. . . . . . . .circle of life.
I’m grateful for the yardstick God gives us to know right from wrong. I’m grateful for the peace that comes from doing what’s right.
Love,Kim
