Sermon Central
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Consistent Christians
Contributed by Paul Dietz on Sep 20, 2008 (message contributor)
Consistent Christians
I was getting ready to do some research for my weekly sermon so I entered my office and flipped the light switch to the "on" position. It seemed that as soon as I had touched the toggle there was an instantaneous burst of bright light from the light bulb for a millionth of a second and then utter darkness. I had just experienced that light bulb's last bit of life.
We always expect that at the moment we throw a light switch that it is accompanied by a burst of light. But we also anticipate that the bulb will continue to glow and emit its brilliance throughout the room in which we are entering. We desire for our lives to be illuminated consistently with the flip of a toggle on the wall or the tug of a string hanging from the ceiling. We dislike those times of inconsistency when a light bulb decides to go out with a blaze of glory and then leave us stranded in the midst of darkness thus leaving us just a tad bit frustrated.
Then there's a desperate scramble that takes place in order to find a replacement bulb so that our darkened world can once again be brightly lit and our lives can move on as planned. But isn't it amazing how a tiny little piece of wire inside the confined space of a light bulb controls our ability or disability to continue our work and/or our times of recreation. Once that filament breaks and the flow of the electrical current passing through it ends, anyone nearby experiences a taste of inconsistency. I guess we could say that in order for our lives to be one of comfort within our homes and workplace, we need a ray of consistent light that seems to make our time pass a little more quickly and our day to be a little more pleasurable.
I find Jesus' word as recorded in Matthew's gospel account encouraging us to be very likeminded in our day-to-day process of spiritual transformation. As we evolve into the person that God desires for us to be, He expects consistency from us. Listen closely to Jesus' hint of our need for spiritual consistency: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." [Matthew 16:24]
Did you hear it? Did you catch that little phrase within Jesus’ statement to his disciples? Were you able to notice His call for us to practice the art of consistency as He spoke those few words, "…take up his cross daily…"?
Those are truly words suggesting consistency. Jesus' desire is not only for us to help to Him in bearing the load, but also to be more consistent in doing so: to continue to do his work peacefully, simply and together. That is stability. It is always being reliable when a need arises within the body of Christ. It's a call to uniformity within the community of faith. But the attitude of having a consistent spirit begins within each one of us that call ourselves a follower of Jesus.
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