My favorite television programming has to be shows such as Bones, NCIS and Numbers. I enjoy watching how the characters can take certain aspects of the crime scene and decide how the crime took place and who committed the crime. The investigators look at many different aspects and angles of the situation so they can come to the correct conclusion. These investigators are looking for the minutest detail that might help with the final determination of the facts of each case. The same was true in the movie, Sherlock Holmes. I will not go into the details of the movie, in case you have not seen it, but Holmes finds follows clues that the average person would be oblivious to. Even his partner, Dr. Watson, does not see the same things that Holmes sees. It truly creates a very intriguing movie.
While I am watching these programs or movies, I can get caught up with trying to solve the case with the investigators. I also can get caught up with the sub-plots that are going on along the way of the show. I want Bones and Boothe to get together. I enjoy watching Tony and McGee going back and forth with their different pranks. I love the quirkiness of Abby in her lab. I even like the tension of the brothers working together to solve the crimes as their dad attempts to hold the family somewhat together. Each episode adds to the different sub-plots which maintains the interest in the show.
I am not writing today so that you would become fans of the same type of programs that I spend my time watching. The reason that I bring out these programs is that each one is based on finding the facts of a crime and the different ways each set of characters goes about doing that. Charlie looks at numbers while others look for clues in the crime scene itself while others look at the body of the victim. Some other programs attempt to re-create the thought patterns of the criminals in order to solve the crime. Each one comes to a conclusion based on the facts found in the evidence.
I want us to think about the facts or the evidence of our lives. I realize that only God will be our judge when it is all said and done. I know that the only way for us to stand before our Judge is through His Son, our advocate. But the Bible tells us that we are to be the salt of the earth as well as light to the world. Are we? How can we tell?
I know over the years I have had people come up to me and let me know that they had been watching me. They would tell me that I had been an inspiration to them, even though I had no idea that anyone was paying attention to my life or how I was living my life. I even had one lady stop me in the parking lot of a store and ask me if I was a Christian. When I said “yes,” she told me that I was walking like one. Now I am not bragging at this point. I do not ever want anyone to see me, but I do want people to see what God is doing in me. You see, just as in the programs on TV, the facts of our lives never lie. Do we act according to God’s Word or do we act like everyone else? Is it obvious that we are disciples of Jesus by the fruit that we bear? The word disciple means to be a student or a learner, much like an apprentice. Our apprenticeship with Christ should make us look more like Him in our everyday life.
Discipleship is anything that causes what is believed in the heart to have demonstrable consequences in our daily life. (Eugene Peterson)
I would encourage you today to take an inventory of your life. Would you consider yourself to be a Christian? How do other people see you? Are the facts of your life enough to convict you as born-again believer in Christ?
Again, I know that God is the only judge that counts. I just believe that we are to live our lives in such a way that others will be able to tell to whom we belong.
John 13:35 (NLT)
35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 15:8 (NLT)
8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
