Mixed Messages

Do you ever send mixed messages? I do.

Sometimes I’m tired and I yell at my kids. If I love them, shouldn’t I be more patient?

Sometimes my wife to asks me to do the dishes and I sigh, instead of readily helping without complaint. If I love her, shouldn’t I gladly help? Especially since she’s pregnant these days (due date is Valentines Day, by the way).

Many years ago Jesus said that others would know his followers “by their love.” Not by their yelling. By by their sighs. By their love.

Blasted Jesus!

He doesn’t know what it’s like to work outside in the summer heat on a ladder all day and then come home to a game of 120 questions from 4 different directions. He doesn’t know what it’s like to get a ticket on the way home from work from a cop that obviously is just trying to meet his quota instead of getting the ‘real’ criminals.

Not exactly true, of course.

Mixed messages ruin our representation of Jesus. As a follower of him, I must try to stay on point (and message) at all times. It’s hard sometimes but it is what I must do.

To keep myself in check, I must always ask myself:

What message am I sending?

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