''What the person IS,

What the person IS, mars the value of what he DOES!

A pastor was commending religion to a boy, expressing the hope that he would trust in God in his youth. "Religion is a continual joy," he said. "Look at your sister, Sarah. How much that dear girl enjoys her religion!"

"Yes," drawled the boy, with frank candor, "Sadie may enjoy her religion — but nobody else in the house enjoys it!"

There are professing Christians of whom it is true that their families do not enjoy their religion. It is not sweet. It is not a comfort to people. It is critical, rasping, censorious, exacting. It was a serious condemnation of this girl's religion, that her family did not enjoy it.

A keen observer has said, "Many a woman spoils her testimony in the church, by her tongue in the kitchen." Another has said, "There are people who lead us Heavenward — but stick pins in us all the way!" In a conversation overheard on a railway train, one reports catching this fragment of talk: "Yes, I suppose she's a Christian — but she isn't pleasant to live with! "

A Christian who isn't pleasant to live with, is not the kind that is most needed in this world. We may do all our duties faithfully, conscientiously, bearing our share of the burdens and cares — and yet, if we are not pleasant to live with, we fail in the most essential quality of love. An unlovely spirit, frowns and chilling looks, sharp impatient words — overbalance the painstaking Christian service that does so much to help in practical ways. What the person IS, mars the value of what he DOES!

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

Back to The Glory of the Commonplace