When Wife Undermines Message

            Ten years ago, a Maryland minister began to attack gambling. The state lottery particularly galled him. His congregation had a number of African-American and lower income members, many of whom were wasting their money on a pipe dream.

            Then he made an embarrassing discovery—his wife won the lottery. Even worse, during the time period of all of those sermons on gambling, she had secretly and consistently been purchasing lottery tickets.

            Shortly thereafter, a reporter from a local TV station interviewed the couple about their recent experiences. The wife clearly felt uncomfortable. The preacher addressed the reporter’s questions in the only way he knew how, “The Lord moves in mysterious ways. His wonders to perform.”

            Needless to say, whether you agree with the preacher or not, the preacher’s message had been severely undermined. If you are a preacher and your wife is making decisions that are diametrically opposed to your message, you either need to change your message, change your wife, or announce that you and your wife agree to disagree.

            I wonder if God wrestles with this regarding the message He wants proclaimed to the world. I wonder when He sees the bride of Christ consistently making decisions that undermine His message, if he feels compelled to change His bride? Does he feel obliged to announce that He and His bride agree to disagree?

            I do know this—He’s not going to change His message.

The Coal Miner and the Disbelieving Sons

            5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of an gels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone."

 7Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God" (Mt. 4:5-7.) THE MESSAGE

            The story was told years ago of a coal miner who was devoutly religious. Some acquaintances chided him because he had not successfully passed along his faith to his three sons.

            He defended himself with these words, “I tell them to pray, and they don’t pray. I tell them again to pray, and they don’t pray. I knock them down, and they don’t pray.”

            Phillip Yancey writes that Jesus never coerced belief. Jesus never seduced belief.

            Jesus cherished the freedom of each individual to freely choose to follow Him. We don’t have to take people’s choices personally.

            Unbelief is not so much a sin against us; it is a sin against God.

Walking the Talk

            A friend of mine a few years ago told a story from Leslie Flynn’s book, DARE TO CARE LIKE JESUS. There was a baroness who lived in the Highlands of Nairobi, Kenya. She hired a young national to be her houseboy.

            The boy worked for her for three months and then he asked her for a letter of reference; he wanted to go work for a local sheik.

            The baroness thought the boy simply wanted a raise; he was very good at his job. She offered him more money, but he explained that he was not interested in a wage increase.

            He told her, "I've decided to either become a Christian or a Muslim. I couldn't figure out which I should be, so I decided to live with you, a Christian, for three months and see how you live; now I would like to live with a Muslim for three months and see how he lives. After that, I will make my decision."

            At that point, the baroness thought back over how harshly she had treated the young man over the past three months, so she said to him, "Why didn't you tell me at the beginning that you were watching me?"

            My friend’s point was that your walk could betray your talk. You can do all of the talking you want, but if your life is inconsistent with your testimony, no one listens.