Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Sunday, April 27, 2008

I love Christian t-shirts. I love how witty and ingenious the creators of these witness tools can be when coming up with such a brief message to convey Christian ideals. I was out the other day and happened by a stand of such t-shirts and had to browse through to see what was there.

Some of the shirts were very simple such as one that was in John Deere Green and Yellow. Inside the John Deere symbol there was the outline of Christ carrying his cross. Underneath it said John Three Sixteen.

Another was in Army Green with black letters that said, "Army of the One" and quoted mark 12:29. Yet another had a picture of a handwritten note that said, "Son I need you to build a bridge. Here are all the tools you'll need. --God" pictured with the letter was a hammer and three nails.

I could tell you about many other shirts that I have seen which I thin k are pretty cool, but the point of tonight's devotion is not to encourage you to buy a nifty shirt. The point is to get you to think about how you represent yourself and subsequently how you represent Christ.

People like labels. When we join a group we like to wear the shirt, put on the bumper sticker, some people even brand or tattoo their bodies to show their allegiance to certain organizations like fraternities or the military. Christians like this too. We like wearing the t-shirt that says I belong to God. We like having the fish on the back of the car that tells our fellow travelers we are fishers of men. We like the catchy bumper sticker that says in case of rapture this car will be unmanned. We like to feel as though we belong and want others who share our views to be able to identify us.

However, to those that do not know Christ, when they see us sporting this gear they begin to look at us as ambassadors of the faith. If we are wearing the gear, we must be the average Christian. So we must be careful to portray a Christ like message in our actions and words as well as with our dress and our car decals.

Case in point. Today after church I went to Pizza Hut. As my family and I sat in a booth we could not help but hear the rantings of the people in the booth next to us. Fresh out of service, dressed in their Sunday best we were subjected to a slew of gossips and slanders against various people in their church, their churches administration and policies, and more topics that I really wish I hadn't heard (but with the volume of the conversation it couldn't be helped).

How would this have seemed to an unbeliever sitting on the other side of the booth? If you were an undecided soul and you sat there hearing this, would you think Christianity sounds favorable? We must be cognitive that when we go out into the world we are the hands and feet, what we say and what we do are more important than what we wear or drive. A good message on a badly behaving Christian does more harm than it does good.