Admitting the obvious isn't always easy.

     Awareness of my environment, people and other essentials sometimes gets muddled because I take them all for granted.  There is something about being involved in and around the everyday that keeps us from seeing what is going on.  For instance, most of us have computers and most of us have social media of some sort.  When we go on social media "just to check for messages", we find ourselves 2 hours later looking at someone's posting from Pakistan about the price of food there.  Finding ourselves having just wasted time we try to find some justification for doing so.  It's there that the "obvious" comes into play.  We obviously know the difference between good choices and bad choices, sin and righteousness, grace and selfishness to name a few.  There comes a point in each of our lives when we are taught either directly or by example that the events, people, and concerns are "outside" of our need to address.  So what if there are starving children in Africa.  I still am not going to eat that food placed before me.  So said the 6 year old.  Obviously we in our world don't put things in perspective.  Perspective is a means of comparing what is and what isn't.  For me there is no hunger.  For someone who is homeless, it's always hunger.  For me there is not a thought of shelter and a warm bed.  For the homeless there is only dreams and memories of a bed much less shelter.  For me there are not only clothes on my back but there are dresser and closet full of clothes that I haven't worn in years.  Who else has a closet with 3 or more sizes?  Obviously I'm better fed than I need be. 
     A serious question we must ask ourselves is whether or not our Christianity is visible to the world around us and outside of us.  If being a Christian were a capital offense demanding the death sentence, would there be enough evidence to convict me?  Okay, I stole that quote.  I don't know who said it but the implications are there for all of us.  Is there that amount and quality of evidence that a trial of 12 of our peers (fellow Christians) would find us guilty of the crime of exercising Christian living?  Obviously we don't ask ourselves that question nearly as often as we should.  Should we ask that question more frequently than when we put that dollar in the offering on Sunday we may just rethink our place in the world.  It seems that I'm always confessing my failure here in this blog and today is not different.  I've obviously ignored the Christ mandate to go into all the world and make disciples of all men.  I've obviously ignored the Christ mandate to minister to the widows and the orphans.  I've obviously ignored the Christ mandate to preach the Gospel, shelter the homeless, exercise mercy to my enemies, be gracious to strangers, and about a thousand other acts of Christian living.  How about you?  Obviously we need to.  It's that simple and complex at the same time.
     I once went to an elderly neighbors home to offer to mow his lawn for free.  It was a large lawn and he wasn't able to do the task.  He kept asking what I wanted for mowing the lawn.  Nothing, I told him.  He finally relented and insisted I use his mower and gas.  It took me 2 days to mow all of his lawn as it was abut a foot tall.  When I was finished I was invited in by his wife. We had lemonade and talked about the need to do good in the world.  The obvious became clear as we talked.  Their son lived about 2 blocks away and had been promising to mow the lawn for several months (obviously).  I was shocked.  They were more than thankful.  I found out that they were Christian and that he had serious heart problem.  She was frail and unable to work outside the house. Two weeks later as I was driving by their home I noticed the son mowing the lawn.  The obvious gift that God had given through me  did more than provide a mowed lawn.  The son continued to mow the lawn regularly after that.  Sometimes the obvious result of our Christian living isn't seen until down the road.  It's important that we don't lose sight of the obvious message of Jesus to let him live through us every moment of every day.  If it's so obvious, why don't I do it?  Because obviously it's not important enough.  Obviously that has to change.