WEARING A SIGN

A friend sent me a devotional which notes the trucks which have stickers providing phone numbers of where to call if the driving is not good. The devotional went on to pose, “I began to wonder how my behavior would change if Christians were required to wear a sign identifying us as Christians and requesting that our bad behavior be reported. Would I be less likely to show frustration because of poor service? Would I be more patient while waiting in line at the bank or sitting in the doctor's office? Would I forgive more easily when others made comments that hurt my feelings? Perhaps I would offer to help a person in need more readily if I were wearing a sign that declares my faith.”

There are few things more embarrassing to the Christian faith than the way we sometimes behave. A friend was telling me the other day about a person whose family and extended family hides the fact from the mother that they have an occasional drink of alcohol. The mother considers any alcohol to be satan’s tool. Yet, my friend describes the mother as being very imposing, seriously inconsiderate, and almost constantly obnoxious. I responded that I don’t know if a glass of wine or a beer is the devil’s tool or not, but I know her described attributes are. Just to make it clear, rarely do I have a drink of alcohol and Eileen never does. In fact, we celebrated our anniversary with iced tea as our drink. Anyway, my reading of the Bible says that a heart which produces bad character is a bad heart. I’m not so sure that a drink or so is the result of a bad heart, especially when we consider the Lord’s history with wine. On the other hand, abuse of alcohol is clearly wrong.

We should remember the Lord’s words. It’s not what goes in the mouth which defiles a person but what come out of it. (Matt 15:11) It may seem pious to be against all alcohol and such things, but what comes out of our mouth from our heart is like wearing a sign identifying us as true Christians or not.