Sunday Rewind: Say and Do

In our last post, we mentioned how a Tournament Director who professes to be a Christian flew off the handle at one of the players. He used language you'd normally never hear inside a church building -- then explained he had to show he wouldn't back down from a challenge.

It's one thing to stand your ground during a poker game, and not back down. But it's another thing to do it in a way which sets a bad example of Christ. Consider the Lord's classic advice:

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.... Do to others as you would have them do to you. -- Luke 6:27-31

We know plenty of believers who try to talk their way around these verses. They've admitted to us they'd run away, to avoid that second blow on the cheek. Even some ministers seem to have problems living by these words; the scheduling of a "Burn a Koran Day" this weekend comes to mind.

But Jesus actually lived by the advice He gave....

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. -- I Peter 2:23

You could concern yourself with how you look before other poker players. Or you can serve a higher-ranking "Director" -- even if you wind up looking like a wimp for it.

For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay.... It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." -- Hebrews 10:30-31

Yet believers can leave the tense and testy matters in God's hands. They're the best hands of all, you know.

A longtime pastor of ours likes to say: "The only religion you have is the one you live." Or as football coach Jimmy Johnson loved to put it: Are you merely talking the talk -- or walking the walk?