Razzles

You know when you go to the ice cream shop and you add a topping but the candy is not the real stuff. I hate that. The gummies are not ‘the’ gummies and the M&M’s are razzles. Yuck! Why do the candy companies fake it and make us think they are something other then what they really are?

It is not so different with people. You can look at someone on the surface and listen to the things they say and get the impression that they are a good, Godly person, sincere in their walk with Christ. However, as time goes by, you learn that they are not what they appear.

I hate dishonesty, and I firmly believe there is a difference between lying and sinning, even though lying is a sin itself. I have no problem admitting that I am a sinner, I sin every single day and I do not try to hide it or pretend that I do not. As a Christian, I know that people look at my walk and me closely and scrutinize every move I make. I do not want to tell people my walk is right on when in all honesty that could not be further from the truth. I love the song by Matthew West, “ The Motions”, I see so many people doing that every day and it breaks my heart. I pray that when people see me that they see me as honest and as a sinner.

I think that when Christians take on the responsibility of being leaders among their piers, they need to be accountable for what they do and say. It is not enough to say ‘my walk is straight’ ‘God is moving in my life’ or ‘I am following God’s will to serve’. Your actions must follow and if you are doing things behind closed doors and telling the church your life is upright, you are a hypocrite and you not only ruin your testimony but you affect the church as well, most importantly you cause non-believers to stumble and draw further away from God.

It is better say, ‘I’m a razzle. I strive to be an M&M one day, but for now, this is who I am, take me or leave me.’ More often then not, people are going to take you because you did not try to pretend to be something other then yourself, sins and all. You will earn a lot more respect and God will use what you see as failures to His advantage.

There were so my verses that I thought about including, but when I came across this one, it really hit home. Joel 2:12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” It does not matter to God what we look like or act like, even now, in our present existence, He calls for us, believers who know the gospel, to RETURN to Him and turn away from the lies and sin of the world. We can never find happiness on our own, it is only through God. Only God.

Even now, I am a sinner, my walk is not perfect and it never will be, but God can use me anyway.