About 11 years ago, before Tommy and I were married, we went on a mission trip with his home church to El Paso. We stayed in a house that was owned by the church, I think, and in that house was an interesting collection of old books. One that I was particularly fond of was "Leaves of Gold" which was a collection on poems and sayings first published in 1938. Tommy and I enjoyed randomly opening that book through out the week and reading out of it. One poem really struck me, so much so that I remember part of it, I was called "Sermons We See". It starts like this, "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day, I'd rather one should walk with me than merely show the way..." It is much longer but those short lines sum it up.
As we go about living our lives trying to love Jesus and bring others to Him, it is our actions people see more than hearing our words. This poem is an echo of a theme that is in the Bible, in James 2:14-17 it says, What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." We can talk the talk all day long and bless people with our words and wish them well, but if our hands and feet are not doing the blessing and the loving and the work, then our mouths are useless!! Paul even goes a step further in Corinthians 11:1 where he says, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." That is a HUGE request, he is asking the people he is writing to follow him as he follows God. Wow!! Everywhere we go people are watching us and learning from us and drawing conclusions about the God we serve based on us. Am I living my life in a way that it would benefit people to follow me as I follow Christ? That is a great responsibility, but as God's people that is what how we need to live our lives!
Tommy later bought me my own copy of "Leaves of Gold" so I can pull it off the shelf and read the whole poem. And remind myself that as I go about my normal every day living my husband, my girls, my family, the youth of this community, people I don' even know are waiting for me to live a sermon! Because there is no denying that the last line of the poem is true; "There's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live."
Sermons We See- Edgar A Guest. Copyright 1926
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