Pastor's Corner: The reveal party
Read Colossians 3, Ephesians 4.
The last few years have provided for many new trends. One of those trends is persons taking part in reveal parties. One such reveal party that comes to mind for many is a gender reveal party. The gender reveal party is part of couples having a baby, where there used to be just a baby shower, the gender reveal party has been added when a couple finds out what gender the baby will be.
The question stirs, do we have a reveal party when it comes to our walk with Christ? How do we reveal our relationship with Christ to others? When we accept Christ, we have the greatest gift given to us of eternal life, our old life is replaced with new life. When it comes to others around us, do they have the chance to see this new life? When we read Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4 it can be found some of the different areas where the old life is put away and what parts of new life can be shown unto others. There are so many myths out there about who or what the Church is, who or what a believer in Christ is. Have we been missing the reveal party that gives an impression of true-life change? Couples have a gender reveal party because one of the most important events is occurring in their lives, a newborn baby coming into the world, the event is life changing, the event is a blessing, the event is part of a great chapter beginning for the couple. When we accept Christ and new life comes, do we find the same blessings as the couple and beyond?
There are different ways we can have our reveal party for the world around us to see. Three of those ways are within our heart, our words and our actions. This is not about following legalisms or even rules, this is about finding the changes and revealing the changes that God is helping us to have in our daily lives. We find some of those changes in the Scriptures listed above. A person who has lived with the use of bad language their entire lives, but then accepts Christ, the Holy Spirit goes to work, a person has the yearning desire to change the way they communicate. The person reveals to others the change in the way they communicate. One of the steps mentioned is a yearning desire, our new life brings about yearning desire, yet so many times believers ignore the yearning desire of the Holy Spirit working in the heart, nothing new is revealed, the old life is still lived, and others around do not get to witness God in our lives. The actions, a person is known to get angry easily, or even the person who awaits the explosive anger moments, they accept Christ, the Holy Spirit goes to work with an unimaginable peace that only Christ can provide. Do we continue living a life of anger, or do we reveal that God is working within us in a new life?
It must be said, life does not always change overnight, one of the myths that must be revealed to the world is believers do not have perfect lives, but Christ works His perfection within us. Christ accomplishes this through the grace, mercy and love He provides. When others witness this love, grace, and mercy within our new lives, we can truly say we are taking part in the greatest Reveal Party of all times. Amen.
Matt Reisinger is pastor of the Cheboygan Community Wesleyan Church.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Pastor's Corner: The reveal party
