shortlady
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Messages
- 2,696
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13.1 NRSV)
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Driving past certain slum neighborhoods in New York City, you see cheery curtains and Venetian blinds in many of the windows. But wait! If you look closer, you will see that these are not curtains and blinds at all.
Rather what you are actually seeing are vinyl decals--plastic imitations of curtains and blinds placed over the broken windows of abandoned apartments. Some ingenious city official thought the illusory decals would make a good impression on potential real estate investors! It looks good. But it's a deception.
How sad if that should happen to a church. We need to impress the people in our community--not merely with our spire or our windows or our neatly trimmed lawn. We need to impress them with the quality of our lives. We need to be who we say we are. Our lives ought to speak to the world about our relationship with Jesus Christ.
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Loving God, may my journey with you speak volumes about your love. Amen.
Ron Newhouse
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Driving past certain slum neighborhoods in New York City, you see cheery curtains and Venetian blinds in many of the windows. But wait! If you look closer, you will see that these are not curtains and blinds at all.
Rather what you are actually seeing are vinyl decals--plastic imitations of curtains and blinds placed over the broken windows of abandoned apartments. Some ingenious city official thought the illusory decals would make a good impression on potential real estate investors! It looks good. But it's a deception.
How sad if that should happen to a church. We need to impress the people in our community--not merely with our spire or our windows or our neatly trimmed lawn. We need to impress them with the quality of our lives. We need to be who we say we are. Our lives ought to speak to the world about our relationship with Jesus Christ.
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Loving God, may my journey with you speak volumes about your love. Amen.
Ron Newhouse
