1 Cor 4:17 “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church”.

The apostle Paul is sharing in this verse what I believe to be the evidence of the true power of The Gospel in action. It is a place where a human soul lives in absolute consistency. Consistency of values coming from my mouth matching up with the actions of my lifestyle day after day. I think we underestimate just how powerful and important this is.

Take a moment Kev, how many people do you come across who have a deep resistance and resentment towards God because of the inconsistent and often appalling ungodly behaviour of so called followers of His? Honestly, there is not a week that goes by that I do not see the evidence of this everywhere. I find it in the newspapers, on current affair programs, in blogs on the internet, even in brief conversations that come up on a regular basis. The sound seems to echo everywhere “I cannot believe in a God that would allow this or that to happen through a so called follower”. 

I think we must face the truth about something. It is beginning to look like the greatest obstacle for people coming into a relationship with God is US (Christians). It appears the inconsistency in our lives is sending the greatest signal that God cannot be real. How does that make you feel Kev, and what are you going to do about it? It makes me feel angry because I feel like we spend much of the time shifting blame to the devil when we are the real problem. The devil can’t make me do anything, the problem is my free will and choosing to sin. Like Paul, I am going to press in deeper and surrender even more to God than ever before. I am going to turn the heat up on prayer and intimacy in my walk with Him so that I can be confident that what comes out of my mouth is consistent with what is outworked in my lifestyle. Then maybe one day I could  shout like Paul confidently to a dying world IMITATE ME! I suspect if every follower of Christ took this mission seriously we would enter a what seems like a fantasy word called revival.

My Prayer:  Lord help me to be consistent all the days of my life so that I never bring dishonour and shame to you. Give me a strategy to reach the ones who are so badly burnt by the inconsistent behaviour of your kids.