A Visible Sign

I have to admit--- I originally started this post almost a month ago but am just now getting around to finishing it.  Since we're still in the middle of Lent, I hope you'll indulge me by reading along anyway!

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This past Wednesday, my Bible study girls and I decided to forgo our usual meeting in order to go to the Ash Wednesday service at church together.  Although I missed having our treasured two hours of girl time, I wouldn't have traded my experience at the service for the world. 

I remember having attended Ash Wednesday services every single year as a kid.  I remember getting ashes put on my forehead and then heading to school accompanied by several of my ashy-forehead friends.  There was no shame in having ashes on my forehead in south Louisiana, where Christian holidays are a tradition celebrated by all.  I never fully understood why I had ashes on my forehead and usually didn't care when they rubbed off at soccer practice later that day.

However, as I sat in church this past Wednesday, I watched pew after pew of Christians walk boldly to the altar, receive ashes, and walk back to their seats.  No one tried to rub off the ashes; instead, they walked proudly, backs straight, chins up.  In some parts of our world and even our country, ashes would be a scarlet letter, a cause for ridicule, violence, even death.  And yet why is it that ashes, or a cross worn around our necks, or a tattoo of ichthys (aka Jesus fish) are often the only visible sign that a person is a Christian, a follower of Christ?

What if Christians were so set apart - so pure, so loving, so honest, so generous- that the rest of the world could pick us out as easily as when we have a giant ashen cross on our foreheads?  What if, instead of wiping the ashes off our foreheads or hiding our transformed hearts and lives from public view, we displayed our love for Christ unashamedly?  What if we had no fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea (Psalm 46:2)?  

As Christians, we are not called to fit a mold.  We are not called to blend in with the crowd.  Jesus, our Savior, was anything BUT a leming.  He did not follow- he led.  He did not stay silent- he spoke up for truth and justice.  He did not ignore the beggar, the prostitute, the blind, the diseased--- he knelt down with them, took their filthy hands, and walked with them.

Following Jesus may make us uncomfortable, but we were never promised comfort, were we?  Let us unashamedly follow Him, believing wholeheartedly in His promises.  Let our lives be a visible sign of His impact on our lives.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

-John 16:33