I often look for humor in life and usually find it in the strangest places and not always where others may find it. Lately, we’ve all been getting a lot of political ads and flyers (glad the primaries are almost over) and one message on many of them is a statement to the effect “I will fight for conservative values.” Or “I will stand up for traditional values”. Now most of you right now are saying, “And what’s funny about that?” To me that statement is like a Dallas Cowboys’ fan saying “I’m gonna yell as loud as I can for the Cowboys and I don’t care who hears me.” while standing on the 50 yard line in Cowboy stadium surrounded by 100,000 fans. It’s easy to make those claims when in the company of like-minded folks, it’s another thing to do that when it really matters.
Well now that I’ve offended politicians and Cowboy fans alike let me get to the real point of all this. As Christians we are often making the same mistake. We praise God on Sunday and declare our love for him and then the rest of the week we are as quiet as little church mice. I remember growing up and going to church camp in the summers. It was so easy for that week to walk the walk and talk the talk. Actually, to do otherwise would have been a lot harder, to curse God or act like you didn’t care about him or church. But once the week was over and everyone went home for most of us it was back to the Sunday Christian act and the rest of the week we were just our normal selves. Church is not where we live out our Christian values and then pack them away the rest of the week. Church is where we go to encourage one another so that we can then get back out and live our testimony. If we only speak up for Jesus when everyone else around us is doing so, what’s the big deal?
Everyday evangelism isn’t going door-to-door and hitting people over the head with your Bible. It shouldn’t be something forced. It is being ready and willing to share why you believe in Jesus when the opportunity comes up. It is your testimony about what Jesus has done in your life. These opportunities come because our life is different from the ones around us. During stressful times, hard times, times of loss and uncertainty we are living differently than those without Jesus and it shows. If the only time we live our faith is when surrounded by others who feel the same it really doesn’t mean much. It’s like turning on a light in board daylight, it doesn’t make a difference. But turn on that same light in the middle of the night and it shines out bright and strong, and others will notice. So don’t be that guy who tells you how strong he is from the comfort of an easy chair, be the one in the middle of doubters willing to say “I believe”.
Don
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