“Show Me the Money!”

I love a good movie. I don’t love going to the theater. My honey the accountant has an aversion to theaters because of (obviously) the crazy expensive cost of the tickets and the trip to the concession stand. My aversion is that I can’t sit still for two hours when there’s stuff I need to be getting done. I’ll gladly watch a movie while I’m folding clothes or dusting the living room or sweeping and mopping. I want to wear pajamas, skip the make-up, and have the freedom to pause the movie and hop up for a bathroom break – even during the exciting parts of the show. I’m also quite the fan of the price of the microwave popcorn that comes straight from my pantry. Basically, I want to watch the movie my way.

And who doesn’t love great lines from the movies?! It’s amazing how those one-liners get lodged in our brains and pop out of our mouths at random times in our lives. Scott and I were dating when we saw “The Empire Strikes Back” in the theater (being fair on two accounts – he wasn’t an accountant yet and ticket prices were reasonable). All those years ago, we picked up the lines from Leia’s and Han’s dramatic scene: “I love you.” “I know.” Those lines are so epic in our relationship, our kids even bought us t-shirts with the words printed on them!

Recently, another line from another movie came to my mind. “Show me the money!” from “Jerry Maguire” hit me hard as I reflected on a conversation with a friend. We hold two different worldviews, but we enjoy a very respectful friendship. She has great skepticism regarding the Christian faith, in large part because of the hypocrisy she’s seen over the years in numerous people who call themselves Christian but behave in any way but Christlike. She has other objections to Christianity, but people living inauthentically are a big one for her. Essentially, she’s saying, “Show me the money. If Jesus has changed your life, live like Jesus has changed your life. How are you any different than anybody else out there?”

Man, this really hurts my heart. It also gives me great pause as I consider my actions and words.  “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…” (1 Peter 2:24a) Do I always keep in the front of my mind what’s been done for me so that I’m motivated to live for righteousness?

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Am I actively guarding what I allow to shape my understanding of God’s ways and will?

Am I focusing on and living out the better way of life presented in Philippians 4:8? “…Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” This is the better way given by God to direct my thoughts and consequently to live out my faith.

My salvation story may not be as dramatic as a Saul to a Paul, but am I living out my new life so that others are drawn to Christ? Am I wholeheartedly embracing my identity as a minister of reconciliation? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Am I intentionally rejecting my old way of life and pursuing God’s righteousness? “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24

Am I unashamedly sharing the gospel with my words and deeds – the exact same good news that saved me? May Romans 1:16a be true of me: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”

Am I convicted by the ways I fail to live out the love defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a? “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”

Scripture charges me – as a dearly loved child of God - to not just talk the talk but to walk the walk. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18) “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2) Am I doing that?

In the end, am I following the example of Jesus and carrying out His mission? God desires that we believe in Him and be saved. Do I proclaim that great truth found in John 3:16-17? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.”

I have zero power to bring my friend to salvation in Christ, but I do have the holy obligation as God’s servant to live a life consistent with my calling. My friend is watching. Your friends are watching.

“Show me the money!” May our words and actions point them inarguably to the salvation and goodness of God.