What Do They Expect?

 

What Do They Expect?\

Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”

1 Timothy 3:7 “Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

Exodus 3

     A picture that comes to mind this morning is TTT, or Tires, Tires, Tires on our calendar wall.  Through the course of the day, they run into more characters.  Not always is it a pretty picture.  Quite often, oil and grease start oozing out from where they are not supposed to.  It is the job of the mechanic to let the owner know of discrepancies.  Hence, the bad news could be a leaking rear main oil seal.  And that would be bad.

     Suppressing anger at the door’s entrance, do we fire off at the first available cashier?  Do we brandish tongues getting in the jabs of “overcharge” and “incapable” as if insults could settle a matter.  None of us like to be surprised in this manner.  What was to be another routine, in and out, now calls for in-depth decision making.  Consequences are great and sometimes involve the embarrassment of short cash availability.  We are stuck.  Car in stall.  We need wheels.  Mr. Credit card comes out to voice another justification at a higher interest rate.  Blind-sided again, we blame the messenger.  TTT credibility is thrown under the bus as we bring the whole matter to work.  Agreeing, we collaborate in opinion to dispel our own irresponsibility.  I mean, it’s not our fault that we are late for work, right?  Basic human nature some would say.

     Rounding Mount Horeb for the umpteenth time, Moses had time to think and reconsider the whole Egyptian killing thing.  Murder is murder and poor Moses kept his distance from the world’s superpower.  Put the Red Sea and dry sand between him and Pharoah’s feet, he was happy.  Such ugly headdresses with whips!  Imagine Moses’ post-traumatic stress disorder.  Jethro was lucky to have any of his sheep left.  A strangling hold would invalidate Moses’ valet card as chief shepherd.

     Rather, we see God meeting him face to face to reestablish his rightness.  After all, Moses had God behind him now.  Machts-nix to his past.  Full throttle into an Egyptian invasion lying just beyond the dunes.  Moses’ breastplate, before the Roman metaphor, bustled up brightly under that black, Med chest hair.  If God be for him, who could be against him?   Moses the Great became the new village brand name.  “It ain’t the real thing unless it has the Moses stamp on it.”  And if that was not all:

Exodus 35 “The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”

     It is God who justifies.  He does it before Himself.  If God declares you good, what more do you need?  Before further relations and family members, we seek His approval first.  Once we have home base covered, the infield can be experimented with.  God, in His plans for the day, sets the priorities then we fill in the details.

Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

    In what manner we burst through TTT’s doorway sets the initial tone for the confrontation.  As if we must arm wrestle Walley from the back room.  With wallet on the cashier counter, mammon calls for sacrifice to treat TTT”s team members as lesser beings.  They have women and children.  Working for the same dollar, their day goes on long after our smelly breath leaves.  “Oh, glad he’s gone.”

     God’s righteousness is with and without.  All around, we are to be known as a good dude.  Like Moses, are we branded?  When they hear our name in passing, what do they think?  Would they want our presence?

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