Guest Posting: Ben Langevin
On Tuesday, My AP Literature teacher was grading some extra essays that my friend and I had wrote to prepare for an exam.
I received two eights and a six.
My friend received no grades, instead just three question marks.
My teacher stated that “she couldn’t read anything” because “it was far too messy”.
He said, “But how were my points and arguments?”
“I don’t know…. I couldn’t read it."
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This true story parallels most of our lives.
How many times do people look at us, judge us and say, "I don't know who they are, I don't know what they are... I can't read them."
Jesus called us to be salt.
Jesus called us to be the light of the world.
People should know we are Christians without having to figure us out, or read us too carefully.
But sometimes...
Our actions are so messy and our lives are so filled with crap that people can’t see the message that we need to get out.
Whether it’s lust, anger, profanity, gossip, hate, or whatever else you can think of, they mess with our testimony of grace and peace and our lives of love.
They are our messy handwritings.
The way we say things are just as important as what we say.
Period.
Our actions better back up our words.
Read 1 Corinthians 13.
Read Colossians 3.
Read pretty much any quote from Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr.
They all say the same thing.
Whatever our beliefs are, we must say them with love and grace. Or we might as well be “clashing gongs.”
Speak with love, conviction, gentleness, and grace and you will be heard far louder than the loudest of microphones. Speak with Love, Grace and Conviction always.
Because they are the handwriting of the papers of our lives.
If we want to point people to Christ… we must clean it up. And the only way to do that is with love, grace, and peace.
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"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." - John 13:35
"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." -Philippians 1:2
"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." -1 Corinthians 13:2-3
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This post adapted from Ben Langevin's blog post: Love Wins: Messy Handwriting
