After Pentecost Devotional - Day 22

“A good tree produces only good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces. You are a bunch of evil snakes, so how can you say anything good? Your words show what is in your hearts.” Matthew 12:33-34

A short few chapters back, Jesus had spoken of false prophets in relation to the fruit of their lives. He had warned that we are known by what we do. Our actions reveal our character. Our actions are the most effective display of the internal realities of our lives, identity, values, and character. Our actions do not make us, but they do display our true selves to the world around.

Actions, words, attitudes are the visible expressions of our true selves. They are the connection between what lies inside us and the world in which we live. They link our internal realities to our interactions with others. Words and actions express our deeper attitudes and character to those who would look to assess who we are.

This is not about putting on a show for others. It is about revealing ourselves beyond the masks of societal norms. It is about the reality that we are at heart what we do, how we speak, the attitudes we express, and how we relate to others.

That does not mean what we often believe it to mean. In the 1960's, there were many Christians in the South who understood themselves to be the upright models of Christian society. Their words and actions were acceptable and beyond reproach, at least as far as they were concerned. The problem is that while they lauded themselves, they oppressed many people around them.

While some may have been uncomfortable with their perceptions of the worst aspects of racism, they did little to take a stand for ending oppression. Their words about loving one another did not carry weight into the African-American communities around them. Their actions did not express the impact of the gospel in accord with the way Jesus applied God's love to all people, especially those on the margins of religious society.

Excluding people from living under God's grace is not righteousness. Keeping people at arm's length because they make us uncomfortable is not faithful to the gospel of Jesus. Separating ourselves from people who would make our life routines messy is no way to follow Jesus as Lord. This is not how Jesus lived, not how Jesus taught, not what Jesus displayed regarding God's desire to redeem all people.

Jesus was much more concerned with transforming us from the inside out so that we would actually become the welcoming, loving, accepting representation of God's love and grace to the entire world of humanity.

At heart, it is not what we claim about ourselves that matters. It is not what we say we are that is important. It is how we demonstrate the character of God's love to a hurting world by our words and actions living in concert. It is being the body of Christ that matters.

Make a concerted effort to assess how your words and actions demonstrate the values of Jesus before those cast aside by society around you.

"Lord, help me better understand the value you give to those who are so often brushed aside by those who deem themselves superior."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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