There's a place on the web you can go and order a bobblehead which is custom made to the likeness of any photograph you send. Really, all you have to do is send them a picture of your face and, of course, a sizable ransom. They're not cheap but they do look realistic and I don't know anyone who has their very own bobblehead.
I want one.
I really don't know why... it'll just be cool. I can show my friends when they come to the office. "Hey, check out my bobblehead." They'll look at it and think I'm nuts and completely self-absorbed but they already think that anyway.
When I was young (oh, the days of my youth. How I miss thee) I registered to vote. It was what responsible people do and I wanted to be responsible… I was so excited when all the information came in the mail. Stuff I could read and research about various issues and differing views. I started to have discussions with my friends in polite tones regarding political affiliation and platforms… I even talked to a co-member of our HOA about volunteering in our local precinct. I was motivated, I felt informed, I had the time and I didn’t care enough to make it a priority. Let me say that again… I didn’t CARE enough to do something about it. Here’s what happened. Soon, the talking became common, and discussion turned to criticism. The issues were an excuse to find fault in others and all the correspondence (mass-mailings) made it easy to depersonalize, desensitize and deemphasize the impact of a single person’s effort. By the way, when it came time to vote, I hadn’t taken the time to find where my polling place was so in a panic, at the end of the day, I got in my car only to drive aimlessly in the direction I thought it was and later find out it was within a football field’s walking distance from my front door. Needless to say, that year… I didn’t vote.
Over the years, I've learned that most people have really good intentions when it comes to life. In relationships we tend to promise things we intend to do... You know, "in sickness and in health, till death do us part" At work we intend to put in a solid, full day of work. I don’t know of anyone who thinks, “Today, I’m going into the office to put in half an effort.” When it comes to our health and well being, most start diets or exercise programs with the intent of seeing results… why bother with eating lean meats and vegetables and drinking water for one day let alone several weeks if it’s going to make no difference.
James tells us…
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:22-27
We live in a world today where who you are, is not a reflection of what you do as much as what you say… I think this is true only because we are so busy that who can take the time to check your references? You’re either taken at face value and trusted (notice a theme developing here?) or you’re immediately discounted because you don’t have an honest face or later you disappoint someone when they discover your mask peeling from the corners of your cheeks.
James tell us further on we need to be people whose, “Yes is yes” and whose, “No is no.” (James 5:12)
I don’t know of anyplace in the Bible that says we should be people who are well intentioned, who think good things, who talk about good things, who hear good things… that we should be the kind of folks whose heads bob up and down and whose hearts sway side to side.
So, what about you?
· What have you committed to doing but never completed?
· How much of a pattern has this become, in your life?
· What are you doing now where your intentions are in conflict with your actions?
· READ: Matthew 6:21-28
· Discuss 1) Peter’s good intentions 2) Jesus’ response 3) Jesus’ commission
· Consider the words of this old hymn
Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own.
· What impact can you have in your church and in your community with this kind of commitment?
· What practical ways can you prove this in the next week?
· What one thing can you DO?
Like I said earlier, I was thinking about getting a custom made bobblehead so I’m not like the man James talks about who looks at his face in the mirror and walks away forgetting what he looks like… But… Come to think of it; I don’t really need a bobblehead that looks like me for my office. There already is one in my office. And the truth is… I need to get rid of him.
