Are You Legitimate?

I don’t know whether anyone noticed, but things sure were much brighter on Sunday. No, I wasn’t any brighter, but our PowerPoint slides sure were. Projector bulbs evidently aren’t like the 100 watt incandescent bolbs that light our homes. When a bulb at home goes bad, it just pops and dies and quick death. Projector bulbs (at least ours) died a gradual, linfgering death as they get dimmer and dimmer over time.

Our projector finally got so dim that even I noticed it, so I ordered a new replacement bulb over the internet from Bulb and Battery Center in Mableton, GA. They had our particular battery as their "featured special" (if you call a $350 bulb "special"). You never really know how legitimate a place is after they turn up on Google, but I ordered the bulb and put it on the credit card and forgot about it. When it came in and I unboxed it, I left the invoice on Cathy’s desk and forgot about that too. Steve, being his usual efficient treasurer self, found the invoice, thought it was a bill and paid it. So we bought the same $350 bulb twice (which makes it less of a deal). Before Cathy called to try to straighten out the problem, I said jokingly, “I guess we’ll find out how legitimate this place is, huh?” Well, she never made the call. That day we received our check back in the mail, already voided out. I now have the business card for Bulb and Battery Center in my desk drawer; we’ll order from them again. Treat people right and they know that you are legitmate.

So, are we legitimate? Do we live our daily lives in such a way that we legitimize our faith? Do people at work, at school, and in our neighborhoods take God seriously because of the way they see us living? Paul says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph 4:1). He tells the Thessalonians, “Live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thess 2:12). He tells us to live in such a way we “will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10). What do people see in us? Do we treat others with such dignity, sincerity and courtesy that they respect our faith and our God? Do we legitimize what we claim about faith by the way we live? If you treat people right, then they will know that you are legitimate.