Day 12

The authentic Christian life is consistent, whether we are being watched or not.

‘Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.’ (COLOSSIANS 3:9-10)

We have a couple of cats at home. When they came to us they were young and wild. We taught them to behave: to go outside when they needed to, not to jump on the table or hang around looking for food. Cats have no moral consciousness; they have merely been housetrained – taught to behave by consequences.

It is possible to be evangelically housetrained. We are taught how to behave in the right company, and we are meticulously observant. But out of company or around those who are not Christians, we behave very differently. We are not driven by an inner compulsion and appetite for what is right, but by external motivation.

The real measure of our sanctification is more how we behave when nobody else is watching. The Christian life involves being genuine with our temptations, failures and weaknesses, and looking to the Holy Spirit to produce an inward morality which will be expressed in outward activity. That is not being housetrained, it is being sanctified.

Be real before God and you will be real before others.