Chaplain’s Corner: XXII

“Does Your Life Reflect the Savior?”

The woman in the silver SUV laid on the horn exasperated by the man who was driving slowly in an express lane. As they came to an intersection she tried to go around him but he hit the brakes. She pulled over in the shoulder absolutely committed to getting past this snail. So determined was she to get around him that she raced through the red light.

Within seconds she saw the flashing red lights of the state trooper’s car in her rear view mirror. She pulled over.

“Please get out of the car ma’am.” He said. “Don’t make any sudden moves and put your hands on the hood where I can see them.” She was trembling now. “Officer, what’s happening.” “You’re under arrest,” he said “for running a red light?” she said. “Well, he said, “after seeing your HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS-FOLLOW ME TO SUNDAY SCHOOL, and Jesus is My Life Savior bumper stickers and your behavior in traffic, it seems pretty obvious that you stole this car.”

No, that didn’t really happen.

But you can be certain that on a daily basis plenty of people are shocked by the Grand Canyon-sized gap between what followers of Jesus say and how they actually live their lives.

In his book “When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box” John Ortberg writes: “The world gets pretty tired of people who have Christian bumper stickers on their cars, Christian fish on their trunks, Christian books on their shelves, Christian stations on their radios, Christian jewelry around their necks, Christian videos for their kids and Christian magazines on their coffee tables but don’t actually have the life of Jesus in their hearts.”

The world has never been in greater need of people whose lives reflect the Savior they claim to follow.

By God’s grace, let’s make sure we aren’t arrested for false advertising.

Faithfully,

Ron Naylor, Chaplain