Free to be Honest!

You're thinking, "What a great place to have one's car battery go dead." All those people who will help you and, if you need it, even pray for you. If something is going to happen like that, best it happen with Christians around. That's sort of like having a coronary in the lobby of a hospital.

Are you crazy?

The last place (and you can trust me on this) you want your car battery to go dead is in the church parking lot. You can't "cuss and spit" (metaphorically speaking, of course). You can't kick the car. You can't yell. You simply have to smile, look calm and pretend you're following the Biblical mandate to "give God thanks for everything" (Ephesians 5:20).

If you had been there, I would have impressed you with my calm, quiet acceptance of this circumstance as from a sovereign God who is good and good all the time. Everybody was concerned and I thanked them, and said I would be fine. I was nice and very "Christian."

But, can we talk? I wasn't fine at all. In fact I was ticked; really, really ticked.

I was thinking, "I would rather this happen in the parking lot of the local motorcycle gang." I didn't feel nice, Christian or calm. I wanted to kick the car, shout at someone (anyone) and spit. I wanted to sue the guy who sold me the car and the company that made it. I wanted to... ...well, you get the idea.

A couple of church friends tried to help me "jump" the car with the jumper cables in my trunk. That battery didn't even try. Then, another friend tried his jumper cables with the same result. I was finally forced to call AAA and have them send out a tow truck. All this time, I'm up to my ears with Christians who were kind and nice. I hated it!

But there was hope. The guy who showed up to tow my car looked like a member of the local rock band; tattoos, long hair, untrimmed beard and an irritated look on his face. I thought, "And they say there's no God! Thank you. Lord for sending me someone who will understand my anger and my frustration, someone before whom I don't have to pretend to be nice." I could hardly wait to get in the tow truck and "let her rip" with my true, less-than- Christian sentiments.

"This your car?" the tow truck driver asked. "Yeah," I said, trying to smile, "It's mine and I'm so glad you're here." "Hey, man!" he said with the first smile he had shown, "I know your voice. You're Steve Brown? Key Life? Right? Man, I listen to you all the time."

"Lord," I prayed silently (still with a silly grin on my face), "don't do this to me. I thought You loved me."

Now, let me move from a small incident to a very big point. I pretended to be something I wasn't in the very places where I should have been free to be honest. I put on my "Christian mask" around Christians and thought that when a pagan showed up I could finally be honest about how I really felt.

Is that warped or what?

The Apostle Paul would never have been able to play poker. Do you know why? Because he was what he was and he couldn't hide it. You have to pretend (i.e. bluff) if you're going to play poker and Paul just couldn't do that. If he was angry it was quite clear that he was angry. If he was hurt, he showed it. If he was in a really, really good mood it showed in everything he wrote. He was honest about his afflictions.

'For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself" (2 Corinthians 1:8).

He was honest about his hurt feelings and felt he had to defend himself. He was quite "in your face" and honest about his feelings of anger.

And, if Paul was in a good mood, he couldn't hide that either.

He wrote to the Philippians who had stood with him, "Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for... Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice" (Philippians 4:1,4).

Do you know why Paul could be that vulnerable? God accepted him without condition and, because of that, he wasn't driven to be something he wasn't. In other words, God had ripped off Paul's mask and hugged him. Paul said that he had been "crucified" with Christ and that the life he now lived he lived "by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

I would like to blame my dishonesty on the folks at church. But, to be honest, I'm a member of a church where people would have accepted me if I had acted in a less-than-Christian manner. The church is a very open and accepting place where grace is taught and lived.

I was protecting myself. What would they think if they saw me frustrated, angry and kicking a car? After all, I'm a "religious professional" and we have an image to maintain. So I faked it.

The worst part is that Jesus told me I had to tell you. Now, I feel better.

So, the next time my battery goes dead in a church parking lot (or even the parking lot of a motorcycle gang) you won't have to ask me how I'm doing. I'll tell you clearly and then, probably, tell you to leave me alone.

I may "cuss and spit," yell and kick the car in the safe and secure knowledge that Jesus is fond of me.

You can do that too for the same reason.

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Key Life NETWORK. INC.Today's Daily Wisdom is by Steve Brown. His daily radio ministry is heard on stations nationally through the Key Life Network. To find his program on a station near you go to www.keylife.org.

Today's Daily Wisdom post was edited by Keith Todd, moderator of theSermon Fodder list which offers Christian humor and modern day parables forenjoyment and for use as sermon illustration material. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com or drop an email note to Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@yahoogroups.com