Bad Representation Doesn’t Equal Non-Existence

Romans 3:3-4

If some of them were unfaithful to their commission, does their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?

Certainly not! Let God be true, and every human being false!

One of my favorite stories comes toward the beginning of The Last Battle—book seven of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. An ape and a donkey find a lion skin and get the idea to impersonate Aslan, the great Lion and Creator of Narnia. From a distance they are able to fool people into thinking the donkey is Aslan, and they command some reverence and mess some things up. Once their ruse is found out, many people disbelieve that the real Aslan even exists. The donkey cannot believe that just because he pretended to be Aslan that people would stop disbelieving that Aslan was real.

This is a great part two to yesterday’s Ripple. We looked at making sure we are practicing what we preach, not contributing to others’ turning away from faith in Christ.

Here is the other side.

Just because some people who claim to be followers of Jesus do not live up to that calling, does not mean for one second that Jesus is not real or good or powerful or love incarnate.

The unfaithfulness of humans does not nullify the faithfulness of God.

Looking to people to see God will disappoint…a LOT. It does not mean we cannot or do not see God shining through humans. We can all the time. But we must start with God as Jesus showed God to be, and not start with human behavior and then project that on to God.

I’ve often said that is about as ridiculous as saying Martin Luther King was all about violence just because a bunch of people wearing MLK t-shirts go around beating people up. That horrible display would not redefine who King was or what he stood for and did.

God is God, even if every human being turns against Him and acts contrary to His character.

Jesus shows us God perfectly. No one else.

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