A driver did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman behind him went ballistic, pounding on her horn and screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to drive through the intersection with him. Still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit the car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
The office said, “I’m awfully sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the “Choose life” license plate holder, the “What Would Jesus Do?” bumper sticker, the “Follow Me To Sunday School” bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on your trunk. So, naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”
There is a definite disconnect between Christian rhetoric and reality in the lives of many professing believers. While no one is perfect and few are routinely consistent, there is still a noble standard to strive for and that is Christian maturity. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” His personal example is followed by a pastoral exhortation: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [spiritually mature], be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (v. 15).
The story is told that Alexander the Great once came upon a soldier in battle who was whimpering and cowering in terror. The general called out, “Soldier, what is your name?” The man answered, “Alexander, sir.” “Alexander? Alexander? Soldier, either change your behavior or change your name.” And with that the Warrior-Leader rode off to the fight.
Christ might say the same to someone today. “Christian? Christian? Either change your behavior or change your name!” There is often a disconnect between the rhetoric of a professing Christian and the reality of living the same.
