Marion Gilbert wrote this little paragraph, I
thought it was worth sharing. “One morning I opened the door to get the
newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his
mouth. Delighted with this unexpected "delivery service," I fed him
some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting
in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers.I spent the rest of that morning returning the papers to their owners.”
I know it seems like a silly little story, but what
would you have done? After all, you didn’t tell the dog to bring all of those
newspapers, it’s not even your dog! It’s not your responsibility to get them
back is it? At the most, we might call the newspaper office… but to return all
of the papers ourselves, that’s going just a little to far isn’t it?
The apostle Paul wrote to the young man Titus in
Titus 2:7, “You must in all things show yourself an example of good
deeds; in your teaching showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility.”
Wow, that’s difficult isn’t is, “you must in
all things show yourself an example of good deeds… showing integrity…” I think
the point Paul is making is that you never know who is watching what you do and
how they will respond to your actions. You see, that is part of “Showing
ourselves an example…” It takes more than just saying the right words and
proclaiming that we are good people; we have to show by our example the stuff
of which we are made… In this context of course I am talking about living our
life so that it’s not just our words that say, “I’m a Christian,” it is our
example also. It is the little things in life that make a difference… You may never have a dog bring you your neighbor’s newspaper, but what about that clerk or teller who gives you too much change or some other mistake made in your favor. How will you respond then? What will your example say?
My prayer is that our God will give you a pure heart of integrity as you walk through this life.
May He continue to bless and keep us all!
