Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…
My mom gave Kristie a photo album full of my childhood pictures shortly after we got engaged. They start off with the typically cute baby shots and conclude with embracing pictures of me in high school. Mom and Kristie like those shots. Something about a big, goofy grin with braces and a neon green hat just makes me cringe though.
Somewhere in between birth and elementary school, you can find a picture of me wearing my dad’s bulletproof vest. (He’s a Sheriff’s Deputy.)What was mint to cover his chest easily covered my entire body, pulling me towards the ground.
For one reason or another, Kristie and I were looking through the album with some of our friends the other day and that picture resulted in a conversation about my father. By the end of the story, my friends knew who my dad was, what he did for a living, and a couple of new things about me as well. As I said, all of this was brought about because I was wearing his clothing in the picture.
I wonder why more people I share my life with don’t similarly find themselves in a conversation about my heavenly father. I assume that at least one of two things must not be happening:
When people spend longer than a couple hours with me and don’t wind up talking about Christ, I must be 1) not wearing Him boldly enough to cause them to ask questions, or 2) somehow missing or avoiding their questions about my lifestyle.
I pray that it’s the second reason rather than the first. Either way, I can’t escape the fact that Christ expects me to look more like Him then I already do.