I found myself sitting next to two pleasant young lawyers on a flight in the USA in 1989. When they told me that they were Baptists I asked them if they had read the book, “Twenty Hot Potatoes Christians are afraid to touch,” by Tony Campolo. Even though they said they hadn’t, I was so excited to be talking to two of the author’s fellow Baptists that I said, “The most interesting chapter, I think, is where he asked the question: “Can a Christian own a BMW?” At which point one of them said, “I drive a BMW. What does he expect me to drive, a Hyundai?”
Since, at the time, I was driving an old Austin Cambridge that somebody had kindly passed on to me, I actually thought that a Hyundai would have been a tremendous step up—maybe not!
Image is an issue for the soul. A discussion to be had on a regular basis within your soul’s own personal debating chamber. What you must thrash out is how you see yourself before God and man, and how you should be seen before God and man. This will reveal more about how you see God than you might think. One man, frustrated at the slovenly appearance of his son-in-law at church said, “My son-in-law says that clothes do not make a man. But I say, ‘Clothes may not make you a man, but they sort out the men from the boys.’”Worrying about what others have, drive, or wear is minding business that is not your own. It can only end in envy and hatred.We tend to favour those who look like us or those we want to look like. Therein is our perceived image.
Spiritual maturity in the Christian is found in the desire to reflect the image of Christ. Now, that’s a step up!
John Staiger
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