For God's Sake...And Yours, Be A Good Example

From: Greg Laurie Ministries

Luke 17:1-2 "He said to His disciples.' Scandals will inevitably arise, but woe to him through whom they come. He would be better off thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck, than giving scandal to one of these little ones.'"

There was a man who had been out of work for a long time and decided to inquire at the local zoo. He told the zookeeper, "I would like a job. I will clean cages. I will do whatever you need."

The zookeeper said, "I'm sorry. We would love to hire you, but there just aren't any openings right now." Noticing how big and burly the man was, the zookeeper suddenly had an idea.

He said, "This is crazy, and you don't have to agree to it, but would you be willing to put on a costume and pretend to be a gorilla? Our gorilla died last week. He was our most popular exhibit. If you will be the gorilla, we will have a suit custom-made for you. We'll pay you really well."

Desperate for work, the man took the job. Feeling a little apprehensive on his first day, he put on the gorilla suit and climbed into the cage. He made a few gorilla moves and beat his chest a little. The people loved it.

The next day, he tried shaking the bars, screaming, and running around. The crowds started growing. By the third day, he was really enjoying his job and began swinging on the vines. But he swung too far, went over the wall, and landed in the middle of the lion's cage.

The lion turned and walked toward him rather quickly. The man knew that if he called for help, people would discover he wasn't really a gorilla. But if he kept quiet, he would be the lion's lunch. So he screamed, "Help!"

"Shut up, stupid!" the lion whispered back. "You'll get us both fired!"

There are a lot of people like this in the church today. They are putting on a show. They are pretending to be something they are really not.

You may be a good representative of Jesus Christ, or you may be a bad one. Either way, you are His representative.

Some people may never open the Bible and read John 3:16. They may never look to see what the Scriptures say to them. But they will watch you. They will take note of the way you live, the way you treat your family, how you do your job, and the way you function as a follower of Jesus Christ. And they will make their evaluation about God accordingly.