When I was in college, I had a license plate that had my sorority's letters and symbols on it. One morning when I went out to my car, I noticed that my license plate was not there. I had my car washed the previous day, so I went back to the place and asked if anyone had seen my license plate. To my dismay, the answer was "no". After giving it much thought, I realized that someone had probably stolen it. And 20 years later, I have never cared to replace it because I am more than what my license plate says I am. I didn't need the license plate to prove that I was a member of my sorority. After all, I'd paid my dues...in more ways than one.
The other day I was driving down the street and I saw a car pass me with a license plate that read "Holy". I immediately thought, Wow, that is truly something to live up to, but what happens that person doesn't act so "holy"?
We go around quoting popular sayings, memorable Bible verses, and the latest mantras. But, really...do we live up to it? Or is there more to it than that? I have to say that I have memorized many Bible verses in my life because they were ingrained in me. But as an adult, I had to go back and actually study where those Scriptures came from and why they matter. Sometimes it takes a bit of reflection to realize that either you are or you are not who or what the latest thing exemplifies. And let's be honest, what is popular is not always what it right...and certainly not righteous.
Today, I challenge each of us to be more than a popular saying on a license plate, a t-shirt, or a bumper sticker. Be bigger than that. Be better than that. But be the truth. Live like Christians are supposed to live. (And let me add - it's okay to have fun, but fun can actually be sinless). It's possible.
1 John 3:6-10
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
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