I’m in Texas interviewing a music minister.  It doesn’t really matter where, so I won’t tell you to protect him.  In a period of ten minutes I saw two things of great importance to our church.  The first will be the subject of this blog and the other the subject of the next. 

             I finished the interview and didn’t feel like going to a restaurant, so I went to a grocery store to get some sushi.  In the checkout line a young man in a proudly tattered CAT cap was buying a bag of organic salad greens, a loaf of white bread, and a big bag of Doritos.  This young man looked more the Doritos and white bread type to me rather than the Rosewood natural foods type.  Was this inconsistent fare his idea of a balanced diet – two tasty but not so nutritious items balanced by one very nutritious one?  The problem is you can’t balance white bread with anything.  (On second thought, maybe with Jif.) 

             Consistency of diet may not be that important to this young man, but consistency in the Christian life is to our church and to you.  You can’t balance harsh words with kind ones or thoughtlessness with thoughtiness (as my dad used to say).   You may think everybody is watching us, but the truth is the world has given up on expecting much from us Christians.  We have said, “We’re only human,” and they believe us.  In fact, they don’t see much difference between them and us and wonder what all the hullabaloo is we make about our Savior.  Will we get consistent in honoring God so that our failures hurt our own hearts before they hurt our witness?