In Sheldon Vanauken's book, A Severe Mercy, he described the pilgrimage that led him from skepticism to faith. Sheldon and his wife, Davey, enrolled as students at Oxford University in England. They both thought of themselves as pagans, agnostics perhaps. Even so, they were honest pagans and their honestly forced them to examine the intellectual claims for the Christian faith. They had no doubt that their investigation would lead them to the rejection of Christianity, but they would investigate the faith in the name of intellectual honesty.

At Oxford, they became involved with a small group of people, who were interested in serious issues. Among the members of the group, only Sheldon and Davey Vanauken were unbelievers. C. S. Lewis was a member of the group. After awhile, Davey threw the towel in and professed faith in Christ, but Sheldon held out. At a point in his pilgrimage when he was wavering between belief and unbelief, he wrote these words:

The best argument for Christianity is Christians; their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians. When they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.

My Positive Comment:

When the world can see Christ living in us, we will make a difference. Note again the language of verse 3

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

That closely parallels a statement made centuries before by the prophet Ezekiel.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

That gets very close to a modern North American expression of speech. When something is planned in theory and then later put into actual practice, we say that we "fleshed it out."

That's why authentic Christian living is so important. It's fine to respect the Bible. It's great to be able to give book, chapter and verse for every aspect of our faith. But if we want people to believe it, we've got to "flesh it out." We've got to be able to show the world that Christ makes a difference in the marketplace, in the home, on the ball field, in the classroom, in the car on a Saturday night date - in every human situation, which commands our attention and participation. Only then, will the Christian faith stand up under the scrutiny of a skeptical world.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR LETTER?

Let's make sure we apply these principles personally. Paul's message must not remain in the realm of the theoretical. We must get it off the pew and into life. Our friends and neighbors are reading our mail. How does your letter read? Allow me to ask some pointed questions.

Is there a consistency between what you say you stand for and what your life is really showing?

It's easy to dodge that question by protesting, "Nobody's perfect." We already know that. We're not talking about sinlessness. 1 John 3:2 speaks of a time when, "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

We look forward to that day, but we haven't arrived there yet. When we ask about consistency in your life, we're talking about saying one thing and doing another. Some people have the mistaken notion that if they attend all the church services and go through the proper worship procedures while they are there, the rest of the time is theirs to use as they please. If regular attendance is the only evidence of your faith, the lost world will not be persuaded to believe the gospel.

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