(Note: The following is a piece I wrote several years ago that I believe is applicable today. Enjoy.- RLW)
Halloween is almost here. My grandchildren will join scores of children that will be something they are normally not for an hour or two. On Halloween, some sweet little girl will become a mean, ugly switch and a
small, frail little boy will become a mighty super-hero like Spiderman.
One of
the dangers that we face in our walk
with God is that our faith might only be skin deep. As the children at Halloween appear to be
something they are not for a while,
there is always the danger that we only “appear” to be a follower of
Christ Jesus for a while. As a pastor,
I find that possibility to be scarier than anything that I will see at
Halloween.
You know the kind of people that
I am talking about: they are people
that praise God’s name on Sunday, but they profane God’s name the other 6 days
of the week. They are people that serve
the Lord on Sunday, but they serve the devil on Saturday nights. Jesus speaks about such a danger in Matthew 23: 27-28: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like
whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside you
are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear as
righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
Why
children might become something they are not for a while at Halloween, children of God are persons who are “really”
followers of Christ all the time. They
don’t just wear their faith on their sleeve because Christ Jesus has found a
place to reside in their hearts. That
is my hope and prayer for all and each of us.
PRAYER
God,
forgive me for the times that I have served you only with my words. Take my life, and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to thee; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment