"Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people."
I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. While swinging my feet to the floor, I reached for the ringing phone. "Hello", I said with a "first-sound-of-the-morning voice". What I heard in response was shocking. It wasn't simply the words, but the tone and pace at which the person was speaking. Apparently, there had been a misunderstanding of some instructions and procedures which put this person in a precarious position.
What shocked me was the attitude displayed in the individual's voice. I had known this person for some time and had always respected this person's faith and spiritual maturity. However, when squeezed by circumstance, attitude and words betraying a Christ-like character were chosen over love, peace and forgiveness.
Needless to say, the miscommunication was corrected, however, in remembering that incident, I have been thinking about how shallow our relationship with Christ often is. One small bump in the road and we testify, with the world as our audience, that there really isn't anything to this Jesus thing. Sure, we know the words, we know the motions and we may even know the verses (and where they are found), but when it comes to the one aspect of Christianity that can make a difference, we don't seem to get it.
In my youth, I could quote the longest passage of scripture and say the nicest prayer whenever I was asked. The sad thing is, one doesn't typically have that request made of them at a wild party or a rock concert. I could say and do all the right things when called upon, but my life wasn't changed!
Look at the list in the above verses. Scroll up and read those verses again. (I'll wait) Can any one of us read through that list without feeling the rod of conviction at our hearts? In the time when Christ was on the earth, the priests were known for "putting on a show". Jesus was always calling them on it!
But we are also called priests. Our work is of a priestly nature.
1 Peter 2:9-10 The Message
"But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted."
An acquaintance of mine sent me a email reply in which we were discussing spiritual maturity and life change. He said that "we have sown to dysfunction".
To often, as present-day priests, we can only tell of the mostly cloudy day to somewhat cloudy day difference that we have allowed Christ to make in our lives. Sure, we can still look the part, but here is the real danger in that.
If we are not careful, we can become like the priests that Christ dealt with and adopt an attitude and lifestyle which says - As long as I look good, I don't really have to be good.
Priest or Poser - Which are you?
More on this huge can of worms to come...
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