Consistency and Excuses

I got back to my apartment tonight and I had a little "disagreement" with my suitemate whom I love dearly. I had left some dishes in the sink because I'd rushed last night to make a dish for our staff meeting potluck today and hadn't washed the dishes from it yet.

So even though she knew that I'm generally consistent with cleaning my dishes directly after I use them, since she came back from a weekend at home to find dishes there, she had to doubt my consistency a little bit. It's understandable.

Isn't that how people see us as the church? Okay, generally we're consistent but when we do even one thing inconsistently (no matter the reasoning or excuse that we may have), they have to doubt our character a little bit.

The Pharisees even TRIED to find Jesus doing something that was inconsistent with the message He preached...multiple times. Now, I'm not saying that people are TRYING to find faults in us. Some people are looking but it's a natural tendency of humanity to observe others. We ALL do that in some capacity.

People are watching us...wondering what we're gonna do next. Are they going to see something that's consistent with the message of Christ that we believe or are we going to make excuses for little inconsistencies?

Matthew 5:13-14 says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

WE ARE NOT HIDDEN FROM THE VIEW OF THE WORLD! I know that we often quote this verse as an exciting reminder that if we are consistently preaching the message of the gospel of Christ, people will hear it....which is a wonderful and exciting promise. However, it should also be seen as a caution that you CANNOT hide the inconsistency. You are a city set on a hill and whether you are consistent or inconsistent, that will be the testimony you show to all the world.