There once was this guy who disliked a certain football team SO MUCH that he even picked out the orange candies from his favorite Skittles snack and threw them away. It was a ritual for him. If it was orange, it had to go. His disdain for the team was always made apparent to any bystander who had to witness his disgust and disposal of a candy that, in his eyes, represented something bad. He put a lot of effort into letting it be known that he didn’t want anything to do with anything orange.
I wonder, did he put on such a show over the disposal of “all things orange” when no one else was around to see him?
Hmmm.
Just like that, I thought about our spiritual walk with Christ – our attempts at “doing away with the bad” and living more and more like Christ every day. Do we do away with the “bad” in an elaborate, attention-seeking public display, only to hold onto this same “bad” in private? Or, are we consistent in our walk, whether it be before others or when we’re alone?
I don’t want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because it looks good to the person walking past me.
I don’t want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because it looks good to my Sunday School class.
I don’t want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because it looks good to my son’s friend’s family.
I don’t want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because it looks good to my husband.
I don’t want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because it looks good to my Aunt Eloise.
I want to “do away with” my sinful ways, because I want to be more like Christ…because the Holy Spirit lives in me and is pleased when I do this…..because of my love for God.
My Father knows my heart, whether I throw away the orange candies or not, and that is all that matters.
the toenail 