“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14, NASB)
A few weeks ago, our Sunday school class volunteered to serve at the Dallas downtown homeless shelter. We were given the task of serving refreshments and calling bingo to about 50 of the homeless men and women who had gathered there. How hard could that be? “Under the B, 19. And, I think we have a BINGO!”
A relationship with God always wears well and is often noticed.My initial job was simply to serve paper plates full of popcorn, cookies, and snacks. As I tried had to be a good servant, I inadvertently spilled the plate of snacks across the table. Popcorn and cookies went everywhere. In my embarrassment, I started to rake the spilled goodies back onto the plate and missed the plate. Now it was all on the dirty floor. I then scrambled on the floor and was trying to rake this back into the plate to throw it all away. It was then that a homeless man reacted to me, “I hope you can play golf better than you can serve!” How in the world did he know I was a golfer? Then I looked at my golf hat, my golf shirt, and golf shorts and my golf tan. I only forgot my golf clubs.
The world is looking at our works as well as our attitude, countenance, and joy. They will know us by the way we treat others and by the compassion we show others. If we are filled with Jesus, I think they will notice whose we really are. If we are filled with self, they will see that also.
I have a friend who is an evangelist. He recently sat on a plane next to a disheveled hippie (I know, that is a term from my generation) who seemed like a very interesting personality. This young man asked my friend what he did. My friend explained that he was an evangelist and a Christian. The young hippie responded, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a Christian. It means Christ-like, doesn’t it?”
A wise man once said, “There are five Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and your life. Unfortunately, most people never read the first four.” But the world always reads us.
Now, we should never try to show our good works for others’ acclaim; good works from the heart result in others seeing this and praising our Father who is in heaven. Christ’s likeness results from spending time with Christ. It is a by-product of spending intimate time with him. A relationship with God always wears well and is often noticed.
I saw it last week. A good friend who is 74 years old had just spent five hours in the heat loading a truck at our church for all the folks who have been impacted by the recent flooding in Houston. I saw him and praised our Father who is in heaven.
Let’s thank God for more opportunities to be like his Son. The world notices.
—
Randy Wolff
October 9, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.