I went walking at a local mall on Monday. It’s not the nicest mall, and while the weather was warm for January, it was very windy and felt very cold. Thus, walking indoors looked much more appealing. There isn’t much to see as you walk, a couple furniture stores, some small shops, a couple kiosks selling phones and services, two little snack shops. Most of the big box stores have long since moved to other locations. There is one sports gear store, however.
What caught my eye was the discount rack placed outside the door. It held New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs gear. Those two teams were the losers in the two championship football games played the day before. The gear from the two winners were still on racks inside at full price. I thought how quickly we can fall from glory in this world and end up on the discount rack. It wasn’t even 24 hours!
That same day I was reading a scathing rebuke of Vice President Pence and his wife because she works in a Christian school that does not accept LBGTQ students. She teaches art. Some of the things written about them and their faith turned my stomach. There are those in our society who hate anyone who aligns with Christ and His church.
Paul to the Galatians said, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” [1:10 NIV]
We need to decide just whom we are trying to please and what makes us a winner in life. The world may look at us and the message we proclaim regarding sin and salvation and move us outside their realm – onto the discount rack labeled as losers. Trying to please mankind never works, what pleases them is always changing. What pleases them this season will not in the next.
Beloved, let’s make sure that we are striving to please God, to be a true, faithful servant of Christ. I want to hear at the end of my walk here on earth, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter in to your reward.”
