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"Real Christianity"
In a world full of fake nails, false teeth and enhanced shapely body parts it's no wonder we struggle at times to understand what Christianity is all about. Do we even know what a "real" Christian looks like anymore? Are they the one wearing the three-piece suit and tie with their nose up in the air? Or, the one with long hair, a beard and sandals on his dirty feet? Do all those who look like a combination of the two hold the essence of a life in Christ? I have made it my life's quest to know Christ and make Him known. In my wholehearted mission I determined to seek out some examples of bona fide believers to understand how a Christ-like child of God might accomplish telling the world about our Savior. I thought maybe the haggard looking fellow at the entrance to the local box store holding a sign that read, "Anything helps. God Bless You," might have some good advice as to what authentic Christianity might look like. He told me that he was traveling across the country with nothing but his Bible and the message that there is freedom in Christ. For a brief moment, I thought he might be on to something. But when I asked him if he could help me with a barn building project I was working on by supplying a second set of hands, (in exchange for the hotel room payment he had asked me for) he declined saying he preferred to "spend his days sleeping and occasionally meditating." I continued the conversation though by asking how effective his missionary journey had been. He said he was conveying the image of what it meant to be free through the way he lived his life. When I asked him if he meant "free from sin" or "free from the responsibilities of the average male adult," he turned a slight shade of red and said I was misinterpreting his message. "Oh," I said, "You must be presenting the message Christ referred to when he stated, 'it is more blessed to give than to receive' and by presenting it in reverse you are trying to convince people the world really does have things backward." Our conversation pretty much ended right there with the exception of him asking if I was going to pay for his room or not. I put him up in one of the nicest suites in town and concluded he might not be my poster child for the Christian faith after all. A couple weeks later though I thought I had found my model Christian. Dressed in a full length brown skirt with a matching beanie on his head, this guy emanated religion. I had seen him walking the street earlier in the day and hoped to track him down to ask him a few questions. He looked like he was talking even though he was walking alone, so I imagined him praying incessantly for the lost, our city, the homeless, and everything else under the Son (pun intended.) Surely he was the manifestation of what the image of God should look like. My friend on a similar truth seeking quest got to him before I did and called me to say, "Don't bother. He's fruity, not fruitful!" The "talking to himself" was found out to not be prayer after all, but rather foul words being mumbled under his breath directed at the people driving by and not stopping to give him money. He had apparently told my friend that he was a holy man, but that because she was riding in a truck with a man she was not married to (she is a trucker engaged to another trucker) she was a foul sinner on her way to hell and he could not accept the gift she was trying to give him. (He was holding a poster at the same box store entrance as the aforementioned, asking for food.) Exasperated she proclaimed that she was a Christian trying to help him, only to be denied the opportunity to lend a hand because he was more of a Christian that she was! Alas. No avail. The quest for the truth continues. Surely there is someone out there who is preaching the gospel of Christ through the sermon of their life. Certainly someone will model the Christ-like life we are to be living. Someone please rise up! For if no one else will step up and do it, it might just have to be me…
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AuthorGary Gilbert has been serving in the ministry of Christ since 1995 and is the author of "The Narrow Road- What it takes (and doesn't take) to go to Heaven" and "The Covenant of Grace.". He is currently a loving husband, father of 2 wonderful sons and a full time Pastor. Archives
December 2018
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Services:Sunday 10:30am
Wednesday 7:00pm |
TelephoneOffice:
(307) 328-5500 Pastor Gary Cell: (307) 321-0475 |
EmailOasischurchofrawlins@gmail.com
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