Standing in line at the post office recently, I waited while the customer ahead of me loudly proclaimed her frustration and dissatisfaction with the nearby Super Wal-Mart store.
“They’ve just gotten too big for their britches,” she said to the postal clerk. “If the grocery store [our local grocer] would just lower their prices, lots of people would quit buying groceries at Wal-Mart and start shopping there.” Her emphatic conclusion seemed to leave no room for argument, and none of us felt inclined to debate the issue with her.
In the ensuing silence she continued: “Why, I’ve even heard that Wal-Mart has caused a lot of Kmart stores to close! That’s just not fair!”
Those standing in line endured a few more of her negative remarks until she finally seemed satisfied that her cynical assessment of Wal-Mart’s glaring deficiencies had convinced us all to shop elsewhere.
But as I watched her leave, I was quite bewildered by the very obvious inconsistency between the words she had spoken and the words, “How May I Help You?” printed in bold, white type on the back of the blue Wal-Mart work vest she was wearing.
“Me” or “Thee”
It’s possible for believers to display the same duplicity of testimony as the Wal-Mart employee, if we get caught up in the spirit of this present “me first” age. Our actions can send a conflicting message to others who have heard what we say while observing how our actions contradict our words.
It is easy to act loyally for the Lord when “Christianity” is popular, when it is the “socially and religiously correct” thing to be when many are eager to “join the crowd” in outward profession. However, the real test of loyalty to Christ comes when faithfulness to our blessed Saviour brings only reproach, rejection and persecution.
Then first love for Christ alone will enable us to walk by faith with the One who “became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” Will we remain loyal when the world says, “There is no beauty in Him that we should desire Him”? Such loyalty can’t come from inconsistency to the “faith... once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 33Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 3)).
“From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” (John 6:66-6766From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? (John 6:66‑67)). What answer would we give to this altogether lovely Man of Sorrows?
“What’s in It for Me?”
Michal’s loyalty to and love for David evidently came from self-seeking. Her love (1 Sam. 18:20,2820And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. (1 Samuel 18:20)
28And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him. (1 Samuel 18:28)) seemed based on the glory of his stunning victory over Goliath and resulting popularity, rather than his person. She coveted the fame of being David’s wife.
As long as David was esteemed by Israel as their mighty, glorious deliverer, Michal, basking in that glory, was apparently loyal to him. But when David had to flee for his life (1 Sam. 19:1111Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. (1 Samuel 19:11)), she refused to go with him. She would rather have an “image” in David’s empty bed and retain her position of prominence, though it meant lying to her father Saul. Having no lasting love for David’s person, Michal had no heart to share his rejection (1 Sam. 19:11-1711Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. 12So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. 17And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee? (1 Samuel 19:11‑17)).
This is the test of true love and loyalty to Christ. When the Lord and His truth is hated, despised and rejected, will we publicly defend Him by our actions? Will we say as did the bride, “It was but a little... I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me” (Song of Sol. 3:44It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. (Song of Solomon 3:4)) and later joyfully proclaim to others that He is “the chiefest among ten thousand” “he is altogether lovely”?
Suffering Now; Glory to Follow
Is what is printed, so to speak, on the back of our “Christian work vest” in keeping with what we say and do? How effective as “ambassadors for Christ” are we in our words and deeds (2 Cor. 5:2020Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20))?
Ed.