- araratchurch
- Jul 16, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 24, 2024
““You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:13-16 NLT
I was watching an interesting study in human behavior. Two young ladies, sitting outdoors on a bench, were being pranked.
I watched as a series of people walking one at a time in front of them, stepped over an invisible “obstacle.” Clearly nothing was there provoking this response.
When the first person stepped high over the “obstacle,” the young ladies looked at each other, laughing at someone they thought was being very foolish.
The second person did it and they looked at each other in confusion, as this person actually looked back at the “obstacle.”
By the time about the fourth person went by and almost “tripped” over this “object,” both of the young ladies are up on their feet, bent over, glaring intensely at the sidewalk in front of them, trying to see what was causing this behavior.
Obviously, there was no obstacle there. Indeed, there never had been an obstacle there. Yet the behavior of just a few people, convinced those young ladies to get up and look for something that was not there.
As I was considering this scenario, I was thinking that it’s sad that people with just a few suggestions from the behavior of others, will go against what they know to be reasonable and true. And not only that, look for something that isn’t there! However, with millions of Christians in the United States, there are still perhaps millions who do not believe and aren’t even searching for the Lord.
Now, I know that the carnal mind rejects the things of God. As well, the pull of the world has many under its deceitful sway. Even so, you’d think there would at least be more people curious about why we believe, what we believe.
As the Lord has done so many times, He interjected into my musing and boiled the answer to my query down to one simple truth: He said to me, “Perhaps they don’t see Christians walking as though I Am there.” Wow!
Child of God, talk without walk, engages very few. Let’s allow the Lord’s Holy Spirit to help us examine ourselves so that we can be better lights in a dark place.
Perhaps, if behavior can provoke people to look for something that isn’t there, surely our behavior can provoke people to look for Someone Who has ALWAYS been there….
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
James 1:22-27 NLT
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!