Your God is Showing

      Today, I am thinking of the woman at Fox Chase Cancer Center who said something to me that made me want to say, "Your God is showing!" She sat across the desk from me and explained the forms that I was signing and then sweetly took the brick of bills that paid for my mammogram.  This lovely woman made a comment about her job and I quipped, "Ah, yes, a job! Must be nice to have a job to complain about." I smiled so that she would know that there was no malice hidden in my sarcasm and her response surprised me.
    She looked at me and said, "Well, if I do lose my job, I know I'll be okay because God will take care of me.  It will give me time to do..." The rest of what she said to me faded into "blah, blah, blah" because I was pleasantly shocked to hear this woman talking freely about the God who would provide for her. Wow! In case I thought that her kindness and professionalism were just par for the course, she took the risk of giving a mini-testimony of her God and her faith. Now can you see why I wanted to say, "Your God is showing!" to this enthusiastic woman? She reminded me that while I was dealing with my momentary setback with snark and sarcasm, she was going to approach hers with her eyes turned toward heaven.
     What I liked most about this encounter was that this was an unsolicited moment of self-disclosure. The woman was not wearing the infamous fish earrings, or a cross around her neck. She wore her God in a positive attitude and a sweet smile. She took a huge risk by sharing her faith with me and it led to a longer conversation about other aspects of her life of faith. She did not need to draw circles around those classified as "believers" versus those classified (by believers) as "non-believers" in order to 'prove' how much of a Christian she is.   She simply showed what she believed by living it in a way that made it palatable and inviting.  Conversely, I know some other people who wear their God like a cheap piece of costume jewelry.  These are the people who always feel the need to TALK about being Christians instead of simply BEING Christians. These are the folks who tell you quickly that they are Christians or Saved-Sanctified-and-Filled-With-The-Holy-Ghost or Believers or some other moniker to ensure that you realize just how close they are to the Almighty. These are the folks who want their God to show but often end up putting their idols (or 'little g -gods') on display. Consider the following example...
     A very dear friend of mine feels as if she has experienced Christian identity theft. When she and her spouse wanted to rent a home and their potential landlord was not sure about doing business with them, her husband used their identity as a 'good Christian couple' as currency and the landlord agreed to rent to them.  Unfortunately, the rent was not always paid as promised and now the couple is legally responsible for the back rent and they have been evicted from the property as well. As it is in some marriages, she paid some of the bills and he paid others. He never disclosed that he had fallen behind in paying the bills for which he was responsible.  One of those was the rent and by law, though she was unaware of the delinquency, she would be responsible for the debt. Now that this debt has turned into a lawsuit, she is mortified because not only is there an outstanding debt, but their Christian Credit now has a blemish as well.
     All too often, those of us who are Christians spend a lot of time screaming about WHO we are and WHOSE we are but we forget to SHOW whose we are - except for when we need mercy or forgiveness and then we pray (aloud) to a merciful God. Those of us who are Christians know that we are described as being known by our love (John 13:35). Those of us who are Christians know that when we forget what love looks like, we can go back to I Corinthians 13 for our job description. (You know, love is patient, love is kind, etc...) As the old saying goes, "Don't talk about it, be about it!" Don't just tell me that you're a Christian...act like one!
     I still have the lovely note that one of my high school students wrote to me in 2000, when I was her English teacher at Long Branch High School. Samantha asked me if I was a Christian and I immediately 'clutched the pearls' and replied,"Yes, why? Am I not acting like one?" She smiled and said, "No, but I'm smart enough to know that everyone who acts like one ain't one and everyone who is one ain't acting like one!" Her note was to remind me that she thanked God for sending her someone who could help her when it came to her "Christian walk." We agreed to help each other by being a living reminder to one another of what we were supposed to be. Our verbal reminder in the hallways was, "Don't embarrass the family!"  In this way, we both acknowledged that we were Christians as evidenced by our actions and not by our accessories.
     I pose this question to those of us who call ourselves Christians: Are we living lives that show a good return on God's investment in us or are we living lives that look like a bad check waiting to bounce? Remember that in all that you do there are two options...either Your God is Showing or Your 'god' is Showing.

Shalom!