Check the can

TODAY'S READING: Exodus 20:15-17; Ephesians 4:25-28; Colossians 3:5-11
How many of your like Ravioli? I would imagine most people do. If not, substitute your favorite canned food. Now imagine I gave you a can of Ravioli (or whatever it is) and told you to enjoy. So you find a can opener and pick up the can. As the can opener blade punctures the surface something just doesn't smell right. Well, maybe it's just your imagination. You keep going. You remove the lid. Hmmm. That doesn't look like Ravioli. You dump the food into your bowl and realize something is seriously wrong. You quickly figure out that you have opened a can of dog food.
Now things have changed, haven't they? For most of us our appetite is gone. If we are not completely grossed out, we at least know that we are not getting what we hoped for.
OK. New story.
Imagine one of your friends knows you are a Christian. You talk about God from time to time. You mention that you go to church. You may even quote a Scripture from time to time. But then you begin to face the difficulties of life. Your friend hears you lie to protect yourself and thinks to himself, "Something just isn't right about that." Later, you brag about how you took a pack of gum from the store without paying for it. Your friend thinks, "Hmmm. This isn't what she told me the Bible says." Then you are sitting at the lunch table and you start talking about the good-looking girl across the room and how you are going to do whatever it takes to get her away from that other guy.
Different story. Same problem. It doesn't matter what the packaging on the outside looks like, the inside is what really matters. The can may have said Ravioli on it, but the reality was that on the inside there was dog food.
There are a lot of Christians that put on some great looking packaging, but they never changed the contents of the can. They put on their church clothes. They say the right things at church. They go to the church events. But when the events of life start to open up their lives and the true contents are revealed, the stink begins to enter the world.
I firmly believe that the biggest barrier to reaching people for Jesus is not Satan. We like to pick out a hundred different things that we believe make it hard to reach people. Now, while I would agree that many of those things contribute, I don't believe they are the main problems. Our biggest barrier to reaching people for Jesus is Christians who have changed the label but not the contents.
People don't want to change a label. They want to change their lives. People are seeking real and significant meaning to life. They don't need another club to join. They don't want another clique to be a part of. They don't need an activity to fill their schedules on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. They want life-changing, heart- filling, purposeful change in their lives. And in many of us they don't see it because it's not there.
As we finish the week looking at three of the Commandments, reflect on what they really mean.
"Do not steal" is more than a command to not take from others. It is the foundation of a life full of sacrifice and giving. It's really not about stealing. It's about sharing.
"Do not lie" is all about the truth. More than avoiding lies, it's about sharing life with honesty and integrity.
"Do not covet" calls us to respect God and others. What we have is not ours in the first place. And what our neighbors have isn't theirs. When we covet things instead of seeking and trusting God it is a change in allegiance. We are seeking fulfillment in the creation instead of our Creator.
If we simply follow the Ten Commandments to the letter of the law without seeing the character of God behind them, I believe we are simply changing the label. Eventually, the can will be opened and the true character will be revealed. It is in those moments that God's kingdom suffers and our witness is silenced.
The reality is that we all have some "dog food" in our lives, but every day should be devoted to cleaning out the can of our lives and filling it with the character of God that we see in Jesus Christ. It is only then that we can live out the words of John the Baptist. "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less." (John 3:30)
When it's time to eat, what's in the can is far more important than the label. In the mission of God that we are a part of, what is on the inside is more important than what is on the outside. And when the inside changes there is no way to stop the light of Jesus from shining out for all to see.

shine!
Jason