The message and the messenger

Some of you may have heard about the recent fire bombings of some of the faculty up at UCSC by the animal rights activists. They actually went to the home of one of the faculty while he and his family were inside of it and firebombed the outside of it. When I heard about it, I couldn’t help but think, how stupid are those activists? By becoming violent in such a way, they have now effectively turned people off from their message. Rather than us thinking, “what a great message, we should be doing something” we now view the activists as the perpetrators and those they attacked as the victims. Because of their actions, the message of the activists becomes null and void.

And in a completely separate, but oddly connected thing, my friend recently has been going through a really hard time in her life, and someone close to her who doesn’t have a clear personal relationship with Jesus threw out some Biblical platitudes at her in an attempt to somehow comfort her, or give her some hope, but instead it only infuriated her, and made her feel more alone. Not because the things he said were untrue, they weren’t, they were Scriptural. But because of the person who told them to her. Once again, because of that person’s action, their message was lost despite the power and truth of the original message.

Which of course then made me think, how often do I do that? How often is my message tuned out, or am I ignored not because I am not speaking truth, but because of the actions and priorities in my life?

Paul says in Philippians, “1:27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel”

And again in Ephesians “1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
And then again in Thessalonians “10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. 11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I know I am often not living in a manner worthy of my calling as a follower of Christ, so what happens then when I try and communicate the message of Truth but am not living in a way that reflects my belief and commitment to that same Truth? Now we are talking about my actions having an eternal impact on not just myself but those I am trying to reach. That really really damages my denial infrastructure that my actions really only affect myself.

Lucky for us, God is bigger than us and our actions, and His Truth can and will still be heard, despite our best efforts to evidence the contrary. But whatever way we slice it, especially if we try to use that logic to reason out that we can behave however we want and have it not affect anything or anyone else’s faith, God still uses us as messengers of His word, His truth, His comfort, His salvation, and the actions we take effects how our message is received.

A message of chastity is lost when presented by a scantily clad female – despite the truth of her message

A message of sobriety is lost when presented by one who is drunk

A message of peace is lost when trying to communicate it via violence

Or in the case of my friend, the message of the true comfort, hope and peace we have in Christ is lost because it was used as a flippant, convenient way to try and manipulate her into not feeling so badly.

Here’s the catch, I am not worthy of the calling of Christ, and I never will be. But to my complete awe and incomprehension, God realized this and has taken care of that for me, through the sacrifice of Jesus. It is this sacrifice that allows me to have hope in becoming worthy of my calling, it is because of this sacrifice and my desire to have a personal relationship with Christ, I am constantly being pushed towards holiness and trying to allow the truth, His Truth, to take over my life. Because let’s face it, without that, I am nothing.