Good morning church,
Happy Saturday and welcome to August. It doesn’t even seem possible but here we are, racing toward the end of another year.
One day I was at Casey’s filling up the van. As I stood there, mindlessly filling the tank, I noticed another van pulling in to get gas. It happened to be a white panel van that is typically used for business. The thing that caught my attention was the very colorful logo emblazoned on the back half of the van. The logo consisted of two words. The lower one, produced in a rather normal font, simply said, “Drywall.” At least that helped to identify what business they were in. I did notice that there wasn’t a phone number or web address listed, so I am not sure how you would contact them if you actually needed their services. But the thing that really caught my attention was what was presumably the name of the drywall company. Someone had chosen to get very creative with the design of the name. Therefore, it consisted of a variety of colors and a non-standard font for the letters. That might have been a good idea except for one small problem. It was illegible. As I stood there pumping mass quantities of gasoline into our fossil fuel driven behemoth, I tried my best to figure out what the name on their van said. Even after I finished fueling, I drove slowly past their van seeking to get a closer look. And yet, amidst the pretty colors and the fancy lettering, I still couldn’t read it. Someone had failed one of the basic rules of advertising and communication – make your message clear.
As I thought about that, I wondered about the messages we are trying to communicate. As Christians, we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We have become His followers. In doing so, we are to share the Good News with others. That seems simple enough. However, it can be challenging, especially if you are not aware that the totality of your life is communicating what you truly believe. It is one thing to say, “Jesus is Lord.” It is quite another to back it up with your other words and your actions. If we are not careful we can allow our priorities to get messed up. We can place our pursuit of the things of this world ahead of that of the Gospel. We sometimes send mixed messages because of our actions and even our attitudes. Using the van as an illustration, it is like we have the words, “is Lord” written across our lives for all to see. However, it is the word that proceeds that which can be obscured by sin, selfishness and a multitude of other things. Let us seek to do our best to communicate the message of the Gospel written all over our lives.
“But these are written that you may believethat Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31
Larry
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