I am still chewing on John's message from this last weekend. He had 4 main points: truth in silence, image, comfort, and heart. All hit home with me. All brought conviction in my life.
Today I am focusing on image. There are so many different aspects to image. I am not sure of your struggle but mine is in the area of being a "fool" for Jesus. In fact I even hate the word. In the Hebrew Scriptures foolishness is described in detail as behavior we should avoid. Those proverbial scriptures remain intact for me. But Jesus introduces a different way that is labeled "foolish" as well. However, it is foolish only because it radically goes against the norm of society. This is the good "foolishness" of the Bible.
The aftermath of this kind of "foolish" living for Jesus typically involves being labeled as extreme, radical, unintellectual, non-mainstream, sectarian, "other side of the tracks," out of touch, irrelevant, and other even more disparaging remarks. And I confess that those labels have been a serious hang up for me. And this is where "Truth in Image" hits me between the eyes.
So my response today? It's time to embrace foolishness. It's time for me to get my marching orders from Jesus and not societal norms. It's time for me to say, "Thanks for the compliment!" the next time I receive one of the above mentioned labels. It's time to grow and mature in this area. It's time.
Rob
