Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday October 23, 2008

This A.M. I browsed through a Christian magazine published by a college with the intent of communicating truth in such a provocative manner as to entice students to enroll in said college, study, graduate and go on to perpetuate the style of Christianity taught by the college. How innovative.

I did notice the photo of the most recent president of said school and my childish irreverence surfaced yet again as I discovered myself thinking, (this is rare) "Why does the smile seem painted on or does the wind hurt his teeth as he attempts a warm sincere smile?" I recall one day as a mere child of 22 I remarked concerning a professor that he had what I called "The Howdy Doodie Smile." It was as though some invisible wire pulled a mechanism and voila, a firm, painted smile, and then right back to a countenance of utter moroseness.

I was browsing the mag because it was sent to me FREE, and I had tired of staring at a blank screen and picked up the mag in hopes of some fire falling and thus I would have something to say today. As I read it dawned on me that the smiles of many people are not authentic, but appear to be put on and the reason for this is that they are manufactured for the sake of image. At this point in my search for something worth quoting one statement leaped off the page and thus I have something to say today that may change your life, at least for a while:

"I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the Gospel has not been its ability to provide answers, but the failure of our part to live it out."

The statement comes from the Grand Christian Apologist, Ravi Zacharias quoted from his book, Beyond Opinion. If you desire a heady dose of feel good religious pabulum Ravi will certainly disappoint you as he deals in meat and potatoes Christianity. Ravi is pointing out in grand verbiage the truth that I often hear in prisons, "Man, if you gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk." I think the phrase originated with a professor from Harvard.

Concerning Christ it is said that Gandhi stated, "He was the grandest man who ever walked across the stage of history, and I would have been one of his followers had I not known so many of them."

The idea of matching our daily life with our mouthed confession of faith is not some new invention of wise philosophers, but is the power behind professed Christianity. A mere mouthed assent to the biblical and historic Christ will not change an addict into a whole person, it will not cause a former murderer to sing hymns while being executed, after offering the sincerest of apologies to the family of his victim. The living out of our professed faith is the acid test by which we are judged by the world we are commissioned to reach with the truth of Christ. Again to use a common phrase from prison chapels, "We want to see if you walk the talk, before we believe the talk." From lonely prison cells, to palatial mansions, the bottom line reality is that if we Christians want a revival of faith it is up to us to demonstrate what true faith looks like.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2008 Use with credit.

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