Have you ever looked at a rose petal? I mean really looked at them? It is amazing how something so simple can be so beautiful and intricate at the same time as giving off such a wonderful scent! Most of the time we think of roses as love gifts; flowers that mean certain things and are given sentimentally, or as decorative ornaments, but underneath it all God's hand is seen...He must really be a loving and patient God to make something so small and intricate!
I am sure we have all heard the old, philosophical (Shakespearean) saying: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". I am going to have to agree with this; as strange as the thought seems, because of something my Youth Director said yesterday. We were discussing the responsibility of Christianity, the Bible to unbelievers.. and how to witness to people who do not accept the Bible as fact somehow came into the conversation. Anyhow, I asked what to do when people who would normally not view the Bible as fact came asking about God but then turned away because of the latter. Her response really got me thinking: " They can tune out the Bible and everything you tell them, they can even tune out God's voice, but they can't ignore you." They can't ignore you! This would also mean they can't ignore the things I do, thus making my words words valid, and God's voice heard since I (as a Christian) make Him my guide. They can't ignore what I do... the power our actions have! If we act as we should and take the responsibility of being a Christian seriously, then those around us will be forced to face the difference they see in us vs. the world. If, however, we talk the same way as those around us and are not careful in what we do...even if it is all in the name of God, then those who might come to Him through us will only see themselves through us instead of God. Our job as Christians is to represent Christ to the world, if we mis-represent Him then what will others see? If we turn them off by our actions, even one time, it will take a lot to turn that preconceived notion around. Though the righteous shall judge, we try to see the person as a whole beforehand, why? Because of God, so what is to stop other people from judging us by one wrong action..even (supposedly) in His name? Our actions speak louder than our words and through them our words shine. But does God? If as Christians we have the responsibility to reflect Him, then we know that we must also be like Him. ("be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect"Matthew 5:48) If we reflect Him, then even though people might not listen to our words or the Bible right away, we can be assured that they cannot tune out our actions..so really..they could call us anything..we can call ourselves anything: Christian, Bible believer, one of "them", God freak, and so forth, but our actions are what determine who we really are. If a rose were called a skunk, but still looked like a rose and smelled like one, people would still eventually turn around and follow "that scent". Simply phrased: people can persecute us and think wrong things about Christians, but if we are truly honoring God and walking where we should, then people can't ignore that; no matter what preconceived notion they might have, and will always have that nagging them until they decide to also follow Christ.
One last thing that we must always remember in our walk to be like Jesus: even roses have thorns. But He is the gardener and His kingdom is where He is pruning and tending us to be ready for. He knows our thorns because they pierced Him on the cross, but He wants to trim them back so that we may enter His kingdom as beautiful and perfect as a rose..He *will* trim them if we ask..then we will come even closer to our goal: to be as perfect as "*the rose of Sharon" :) *S of S 2:1
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