Sumo Wrestling

We had my son's graduation party this last Saturday. There was food, friends, family, fellowship, fun, and, well, you get the pictures. My job was to be the muscle to carry things in (and out), and to be in charge of the Sumo Wrestling Game. Yes, you can rent Sumo outfits that are huge padded body things you literally wear. There are helmets that are shaped like the hair of sumo wrestlers. It's really quite funny. You see these little (tranlated young and skinny) girls put on these huge outfits. The helmets were so big they slid down on their heads and they couldn't see. Then they run at each other and try to shove each other out of a circle on a mat.
Anyway, it was interesting because these meek and mild kids (as a general rule) would put these suits on and they would assume the personality of a Sumo wrestler. They would growl at each other. They'd snarl their lips and glare at their opponent. I think many of them really thought they were Sumo wrestlers.
Don't we do that in church? We dress up nicely. We wear our suits and nice ties and pretty dresses. We walk into the church building for Sunday services "looking" like nice people. In reality, we were out the night before getting bombed, or the week before we cheated on a deal because "that's just business," or we were rude to the person in the check out just because they were too slow. We assume the personality of a Christian because we have the clothing and we're in the building. It happens all the time.
I heard Rick Atchley speak recently and he said that people ask him all the time where his church is. He said that he knew what they were asking. They were asking the location of the building, the facility. What he said he wanted to say was, "...the church is in the schools, it's at the work place, it's all over the community." Now when we get that view of what Christianity is like, there will be no more facades. We won't hide behind the clothes or the sumo outfits. We won't be, as Jesus said, people who honor him with their lips but having hearts far from him. That's what I want. That's what we need. People who are honest, kind, humble, and loving. No fake stuff. No fluff. Just real, honest people who love God. I like that. Hope you do too. Have a great day. JW