“Brother,” said St. Francis of Assisi to a young monk who had just entered the monastery, “let’s go to town and preach.” They left the monastery and walked to the town and did not say a word to each other or the people they passed in the marketplace. After several hours they retraced their steps and returned to the monastery.
The young monk wondered what was going on and after waiting for what seemed like an eternity he finally broke his silence and asked, “I thought we were going to town to preach. When are we going to preach?”
“We have been preaching,” replied St. Francis. “As we walked, we were observed: people watched our manners, our faces, our behavior, and our clothes, what people thought we stood for. We have been preaching.”
All of us preach all of the time. Our behavior is our message and our places of interest our pulpits. Our lives become lectures and our pursuits are examples of our priorities. People watch us even as we watch them. And each time we pass from view and our words can no longer be heard our sermon ends and a decision about the value and importance we place on being like Christ in all we do and whatever we say is made.
The problem we face today is not the quantity of Christians but the quality. And if we want to win more, we must be more. How different would the world be if when we “declared God’s glory,” we also lived God’s glory. How we live is more important than words.
Prayer: Give us courage and strength Lord, to live as we ought to live and show the world Your glory and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture for Today: Psalm 96:2b Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
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