august 21, 2023
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
-2 Corinthians 3:18
Just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. I had been to the area several times over the past few years, but this year I was able to finally visit a memorial that I had been wanting to see for many years. My grandfather, Clarence Taylor, was the sheriff of a small county in eastern Kentucky, on March 27, 1954 he was shot and killed in the line of duty. His name is on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and I had been wanting to visit this memorial but I just never had the opportunity. This year, I finally made it and I was honored, and saddened, to see his name among so many fallen officers. Across the street from the memorial is the National Law Enforcement Officers Museum, so I decided I would go in and check it out as well, while I was in the area.
As I walked through the museum a 1963 Harley Davidson Panhead caught my attention. I walked over to the exhibit to see why this motorcycle was on display in a law enforcement museum. It turns out, this particular motorcycle was used by an ATF agent named Blake Boteler. Agent Boteler used this motorcycle, along with a new identity to infiltrate the Sons of Silence. He spent two years undercover and had to find a delicate balance between his life as an agent, a husband, a father and the life of an outlaw biker. According to one of the plaques in the exhibit it said that “it meant always having a reason for not participating in certain criminal activity, and remembering it.” He was living a double life. On the one hand he was a devoted and upstanding federal agent, on the other hand he had to pretend to be someone he wasn’t so that he could be accepted by the members of the Sons of Silence, going against everything he upheld with respect to maintaining law and order.
This story of his life, pretending to be someone he was not, struck me as being similar to what many professing Christians do in their daily lives. I, myself was guilty of this at one time as well, professing to be a Christian but conforming to the dynamics of different friend groups, telling myself that I was winning them over so that I could win them for Christ. You can imagine how that turned out, I did not lead anyone to Christ, but I, instead, let the world transform me. If I had friends who were drinking regularly, then I would drink with them, rationalizing my behavior. If friends were using inappropriate language, I was right there with them. I look back on those times with shame because I realize that my faith was far from genuine. Do any of you know professing Christians who conform to the group of people that they happen to be around? Are you guilty of this rationalization yourself? Telling yourself that if you can just win them over then you can lead them to Christ.
Well, guess what? That’s not how it works. James talks about this in the second chapter of his letter:
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
-James 2:17
We can profess an undying faith in Christ, but unless our lives are demonstrative of that faith then our faith is dead. Our faith should be transformative and regenerative. Jesus tells us that our faith should be visible to others.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
-Matthew 5:16
We see the need to be doers of the Word, as opposed to simply proclaimers of our faith in these words of Christ, as recorded a little later in Matthew chapter 7:
“‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’”
-Matthew 7:21
What Jesus is saying is that it is not the “Sayers” that enter the Kingdom, but those that are “Doers.”
James goes on, in the second chapter, to illustrate that belief is not enough. He tells us this:
“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”
-James 2:19
The demons know there is a God, even demons know Jesus is who he said he is, that He is the son of God sent by the Father to save all those who believe in Him. The difference between demons and Christians is not knowledge, the difference is that Christians faithfully submit to the Lordship of Christ and become His followers.
We become followers of Christ when our lives are transformed, when we become a new creation. It is through the demonstration of our faith that we will show others the strength of glory of Christ, not by allowing ourselves to be influenced by a lifestyle that is contrary to our obedience and faith in Christ. I know we all know these words from the apostle Paul:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
-Romans 12:2
If our faith is genuine, we will not be conformed to the world around us, we, ourselves, will be transformed by grace through faith in Christ and our light will shine to others so that they may desire to become more like us rather than us making a compromise and being someone we are not under the guise of leading others to Christ.
