This is a true story. The church’s hospitality had been wonderful. So much so that the visiting preacher had to make a hasty visit to the bathroom just before the service was due to begin. Sadly, in his rush to finish, something that should have been flushed away fell to the floor, and without realising he trod on it. It was only as he stood on the platform, before the assembled congregation, that he realised that the beauty of his words about the Good News of Jesus was being somewhat compromised by the foul aroma rising from his feet.
We sometimes talk about those who can ‘talk the talk’ but not ‘walk the walk’ and sadly, the accusation is too often levelled at those who claim to follow Christ, that their lives don’t match up to the message of Jesus that they proclaim. Important then to remember that sometimes we need to look past those who follow Jesus to Jesus himself. After all those of us who follow Christ are all ‘works in progress’. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the ‘beautiful feet of those who bring Good News’, and the gospels reveal Jesus as a unique human being whose ‘talk and walk’ were in perfect symmetry.
