(submitted by Kerry Patton)
“You
are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does
anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it
gives light to all who are in the house.
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew
5:14-16
Do You Know
What You Have?
I was watching Garage Squad, an automobile restoration program on
the Velocity Network recently. In that
particular episode the car the team was going to put back into service was a
1970 Datsun 240Z.
I was never all that enthused about the 240Z as I was more
familiar with the model 280Z which was popular a few years later in 1975…about
the time I really began to become excited about cars as a kid. In my mind, since the 280Z was newer…It MUST
have been a better car. In truth
however, the later cars had been encumbered with more stringent environmental
restrictions and suffered not only lower horsepower, but also higher curb
weight. So even owners of the newer cars
would opine for the earlier cars… THOSE apparently, were the ones to have. I of course, was clueless to these facts.
There in the episode of Garage Squad, the show hosts began to be
very excited about restoring such a rare and desired car as the Datsun
240Z. It was only upon taking ownership
that the owner came to realize just how rare this particular 240Z was. The car had a vehicle identification number
or VIN number of 00089.
It seems that when Nissan, the parent company of Datsun in Japan
was bringing the 240Z to America, the first 100 cars were “Dealer Only”
models. These cars were given to the
dealers…not to sell, but to drive exclusively themselves to raise awareness of
the car in a country that had never seen them before. This little 240Z was not only one of the most
desired Datsun’s in the world, it was among the rarest as well.
Now I, who had never given the 240Z a second thought in my entire
life, was leaning forward in my seat.
Nothing about the car had changed, but I was suddenly very
interested! You see…this car was now
…VALUABLE!
Why are so many of us like this?
We tend to value only those things
that we have personal knowledge of and experience with.
An Uninteresting Faith
I think that in a very similar way, we
can look at Christianity and understand to a deeper degree why most of the
world really isn’t interested in signing on with the faith we share. They just don’t find it interesting. They can’t appreciate…the value of a relationship with Jesus. It’s just religion to them. From the outside, the Christian faith must
look like a prison sentence of “No’s.”
·
You can’t get to
heaven by any other means
·
You can’t
curse
·
You can’t eat too
much
·
You can’t get
drunk
·
You can’t lie
·
You can’t
experiment with drugs
·
You can only have
sex with someone you are married to
·
You can’t watch
explicit movies
And on and on… Don’t do this, you can’t
do that. And don’t even THINK about
that…
Now while these all sound perfectly
reasonable to you and me, to someone unbound by our convictions, it just sounds
like we are being closed minded and legalistic.
They must see our faith much like some diet advice someone gave me not
long ago: “Kerry, here’s a good way to lose weight…when you put anything in
your mouth, if it tastes good…SPIT IT OUT!”
Listen, if the only thing our Christian
faith presents to the world is judgement, debate, and a long list of no-no’s,
who in the world would find Jesus interesting…who could see his value?
Making Faith
Interesting
So, how do we show the world the value of a saving relationship
with Jesus? How do we make our faith
interesting? By loving others like
Jesus, and by our lives being changed by his transforming power!
· As we walk in
the grace and power of God; as we live, love, and serve others as Jesus did
during his life, then our faith becomes interesting.
· As we endure
hardship and testify of how our faithful God brought us through those times,
our faith becomes interesting.
· When we perform
not only what is required, but go above and beyond at no gain for ourselves
…and give glory to God…our faith becomes interesting.
· When the world
around us gets to witness us loving our families, raising our children, dealing
with the frustrations of our job and health issues…and dealing with all of this
with God’s grace, patience, and love, then our faith becomes interesting.
· When our lives
are lived no longer for ourselves, but for others, and it is truly because of
Jesus, then our faith becomes interesting.
· When our life
compass leads us with discernment and compassion rather than judgement and
self-righteousness, then our faith becomes interesting.
Prayer
Father,
make my life and my faith interesting.
Let my living and loving be magnetic to the hearts of those around me
today. How I long that they see how
valuable…how precious life in you is!
Set
your hand to my mouth, O Lord, and let me only speak life and love,
encouragement to others. As I succeed or
fail, as I walk or stumble, let it all be to the honor and glory of your
name. Let my faith…be interesting. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
