Authenticity—the Real Me
A woman got on an elevator in a tall office building. There was just one other person in the elevator, a handsome man. She pushed the button for her floor and then casually looked over at the man and suddenly had one of those moments of recognition shock. Could it be? The man looked exactly like Robert Redford, the movie star. Her gaze was almost involuntarily riveted on him. Finally, she blurted out, “Are you the real Robert Redford?” He smiled and said, “Only when I’m alone.”
No Need for Words
When you know who you are, you don’t have to impress anyone. When Jesus was taken before the high priest, who asked, “What do you have to say for yourself?” Jesus was silent. Wrong question.
When the high priest then asked Him if He was the Son of God, Jesus said, “I am.” Right question.
Before Pilate, who asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say.” Right question.
In the Luke account, Herod asked Jesus question after question, but there was no reply. Wrong questions.
When you have discovered your identity, you need to say little else. Toyohiko Kagawa, the Japanest Christian who spent his life working with and for the poor, was speaking at Princeton. When he finished his talk, one student said to another, “He didn’t say much, did he?”
A woman sitting nearby leaned over and murmured, “When you’re hanging on a cross, you don’t have to say anything.” –Stanley Mooneyham
Passing the Test
It seems that this college student needed a small two-hour course to fill out his schedule. The only one that fit was in Wildlife Zoology. He had some reservations as he heard the course was tough and the teacher a bit different. But, it seemed like the only choice, so he signed up.
After one week and one chapter, the professor had a test for the class. He passed it out and it was a sheet of paper divided into squares and in each square was a carefully drawn picture of some bird legs. Not bodies, not feet—just different birds’ legs. The test simply asked them to identify the birds from the pictures of their legs.
Well, he was absolutely floored. He didn’t have a clue. The student sat and stared at the test and got madder and madder. Finally, reaching the boiling point, he stomped up to the front of the classroom and threw the test on the teacher’s desk and exclaimed, “This is the worst test I have ever seen and this is the dumbest course I have ever taken.” The teacher looked up at him and said, “Young man, you just flunked the test.” Then the teacher picked up the paper, saw that the student hadn’t even put his name on the paper, and said, “By the way, young man, what’s your name?” At this the student bent over, pulled up his pants, revealed his legs and said, “You identify me.”
The Name Identifies
Several centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great came out of Macedonia and Greece to conquer the Mediterranean world. He didn’t know it, but God was using him to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah—for it was as a result of Alexander’s conquests that Greek was established as the common language of the Grecian and later even the Roman Empire. On one of his campaigns, Alexander received a message that one of his soldiers had been continually, and seriously, misbehaving and thereby shedding a bad light on the character of all the Greek troops. And what made it even worse was that this soldier’s name was also Alexander. When the commander learned this, he sent word that he wanted to talk to the errant soldier in person. When the young man arrived at the tent of Alexander the Great, the commander asked him, “What is your name?” The reply came back, “Alexander, sir.” The commander looked him straight in the eye and said forcefully, “Soldier, either change your behavior or change your name.” This story has a lesson for each of us. When we call ourselves Christians, we are identifying with Jesus Christ. When we wear a cross, or ICHTHUS, or put Christian stickers on our cars, we are being a witness for Him. We are being identified with the name of Christ. Is your behavior compatible with that name and with the symbol that shows that you are a Christian?