I have shared with you that one of the things I do on a daily basis is read the Bible. I started this 11 years ago and it has been a blessing ever since. The version I picked this year was “The Message” by Eugene Peterson. This past week I was reading from Luke 6 and came across these words. The sub heading was…Work the Words into Your Life…
43-45"You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
46-47"Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.[1]
Powerful words. You know people like that though that always say the right thing or come off as the people who are the most respectful, but they are not. It is a show, it’s a game. It is not truthful, it is not sincere.
Maybe you are that person. Respectful on the outside, but on the inside, your true personality, you could care less. Well I tell you that people see through the façade – the phoniness.
Luke went on in that passage with words of Christ that really challenge us to be a person of character.
48-49"If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss." [2]
Being a person of character is smart – Christ says so. Being phony, not sincere, is dumb. And if you chose to live your life that way, at some time your life will crumble around you.
[1] The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson, NAVPRESS
[2] Ibid.
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