We aim to walk the talk, to act the same outside the church building as we do inside. Striving to wear our Sunday best all week long, some level of consistency is our target. Our reality often finds us falling short of that ambition.
We are fortunate to be yoked with a group of men who text daily and meet weekly, whose desire is to have our outsides match our insides. We call ourselves “rhinos” because, for one reason, we can’t see very far in front of ourselves. This becomes a strength instead of a weakness as we are more determined than the next guy to see life through the lens of our creator and not rely on our own led eyesight.
We think we know what consistency looks like, and we think we know why it is important. What we work on daily is finding a rhythm that moves to the beat of God's voice – heard through prayer, meditation, reading of The Word, and others.
We get intentional about our morning routine, our prayer life, and our theme to serve as we strive to be steady, reliable, uniformed, and even-keeled.
Jesus seemed to follow these standards even as the world revolted on top of Him. We find it hard to imagine our reaction when faced with utter rejection and constant attack. We know that we tend to blow at the smallest of human inconveniences. To go off the rails when things don’t go our way. We are more focused sometimes on getting to an earthly destination while missing the chance to find peace on the road to eternal harmony.
There is real strength and comfort found in practicing consistency with each action. Self-discipline, acting rightly in the moment, has far-reaching benefits promised in the Bible, to those who choose righteousness over self-indulgence.
We understand these truths but fall short more often than we care to admit. This is where accountability and the brotherhood of Christian men become paramount in our quest for ultimate peace.
We are not perfect today, but we are more consistent than we were yesterday. Either way, we are as saved today as we were yesterday. We are less likely to flip off somebody in the church parking lot (though we have heard that that thing happens) today, but we are unsure of our capabilities tomorrow.
The best we can do is to stay true to our heart's desire, to reflect the grace that has been granted us.
When we dress ourselves to be in the presence of the Ultimate Greatness, permanence should be our call - we should not be slipping out of our Sunday best to redress into our sinful shorts. For us, it is in the “getting comfortable” with the set of clothing He has provided. It is in putting on those new clothes and the pair of new glasses (that allow us to see better/further) and keeping them on throughout our waking hours.
Today, we pray for consistency.
Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast “Rooted Week 10 "Why is the church important?" … The podcast dropped on 10/15/2023. Click here to hear the podcast.
Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
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