Walk the Talk

Imagine for a moment that you are living in the New Testament times. Let’s say that you are now there before Jesus started His public ministry. You need to buy fish for your family so you walk along the shores of Galilee. You meet Peter and his partners James and John selling their catch. You are wary to buy from them because you know they have sold poor quality fishes in the past. But this batch seems very fresh. You agree on the price of 10 denarius for a pail of fish. When you arrive home you found out that underneath the top mound of very fresh fishes, Peter has also included rotten fishes at the bottom of the pail! You have paid full price for half a pail of fish!

Four years later you hear about this same Peter who is preaching about a risen Jesus. How are you going to view this Jesus? You probably won't give much credence to Peter’s message because of your personal experience with him. (It is a good thing this whole episode did not happen.)

Fast forward now to twenty first century, in our daily lives at home or at work, all the little things we do and say have an ability to reinforce the message and the Christ we stand for, or make it totally ineffective. In Christianity, as in parenting, it is important to “walk the talk.” When we teach our children to do what we say, we should be able to provide the model for it, or else our message becomes ineffective. Look at the example of Jesus. The four gospels are full of them. Jesus delivers. He keeps His promises. Thousands of people look up to Him. People believed Him. They can sit for three days straight, without food, just to hear his words. He is sensitive to the needs of other people. He lived and preached a simple message of God’s love. And He is very effective.

Sadly, in our business community these days, many businessmen have low opinion of Christians. Why? They use their “Christianity” to gain people’s trust. They do not pay their debts on time or follow-through on their promises.

Understandably, there will be times when we are unable to perform or deliver what we promised due to outside factors. The key to turning these potentially negative circumstances into a witness for Christ is communication. For instance, if we are unable to pay a bill on time, we must communicate with those we owe and make a good faith effort to resolve it within our means.

Do your words mean anything to those who hear them? Do you make commitments and fail to follow through on them? What would others say about how you follow through? Ask the Lord today to show you how you are doing in this area. Remember: Walk the Talk.