“Will the Real Committed Christian, Please Stand Up!”

 

Do you remember the television game show, “TO TELL THE TRUTH”, in the 1960’s? Obviously, some of our readers would not! But I’m amazed that many of those old programs are found today on various channels on cable, or satellite. But I digress! Each telecast would have some person who had done something, maybe out of the ordinary in their life. They were seated with two other persons who tried to persuade a panel of celebrity judges, that he or she was the one who had done this unusual or out-of-the-ordinary feat. Personally, as a viewer sitting at home we had the opportunity to make our own choices of whom we thought might be the special person from the three contestants. I must admit, at times, it was really difficult to pick the correct guest!

 

Those of us engrossed in this process probably made many incorrect choices, but we had fun trying to determine who was actually telling the truth and who were acting the part. You couldn’t tell by appearances, who was the correct choice. And most of the time all three persons could really give a persuasive argument that they were the one “telling the truth”. I guess that just goes to show that looks and persuasive speech is not all that is needed to find out who is telling the truth, it takes having had the experience, too!

 

Even in politics we’ve come to understand that things are never what they seem to be for any one candidate. There are obviously other professions, groups and individuals who would fit into that same category. Even in the Christian faith there are persons who have fallen from grace, or at least the acceptance by supporters because they made bad choices, or didn’t really tell the truth!   They may have even used persuasive speech, but even that could not cover their mistakes.

 

Maybe many of us need to look at our commitment to Christ and his church to see whether we are really committed to following and serving Him faithfully? We may ‘talk a good talk’, but deceive ourselves and others in the process? One important vow we make as a servant of Jesus Christ, occurs when we become a member of a church. We vow to support the Church with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. These should be seen as the “core” values of being a member of the church. We are not to pick and chose which ones we will and which ones we won’t do. The vow incorporates all four “core values”. I would encourage each of us in our churches to take seriously our vows we’ve made to God in the presence of others, especially about our commitment to God and His church. Hopefully, you and I will be able to “stand up”, because we’ve “told the truth”, by our actions and words?

 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Roger