While this seems like a silly question to ask there is a point to be made. When I asked this question to some teens recently they told me that God wants us to be like a carrot because a carrot is the same on the inside as it is on the outside while a kiwi is different. It is brown and hairy and dry on the outside but green and seedy and slimy on the inside. Pretty insightful, huh!
God has called us to lead a consistent life. One that can be counted on when the going gets tough, one that is full of integrity, one that is consumed with loving God and others. But for us to live this kind of consistent life we must first be inconsistent with the way we were before Jesus.
In 1 John 2:6 (NIV) it says "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." To do this we need to know the ways of Jesus. God gave us his inspired word so that we might know him and chose to follow his teaching. There are many people who know the bible and can quote large blocks of passages, but there is a difference between knowing God's word and doing God's word. James describes this difference in his book. He writes in James 1:22-25 (NIV) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
The more we allow ourselves to change and become more like Jesus the more consistent our life will become with his. We will not only do godly things in godly ways that others will notice but we will have a heart that is in tune with a desire to please God and serve others more than anything else and that is what Jesus did.
So let's all be kind to carrots!
Roger, over and out!
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