What’s Your Reaction?

I act like a kind, joyful, and patient person at the church building on Sundays, then sometimes when I leave the parking lot and another driver cuts me off, I react like an unkind, miserable, impatient man. That’s just one of many examples I could share, but it illustrates these haunting words: “It’s much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one… It’s our reactions that reveal who we really are.”
 
Those words come from Mark Batterson in Win the Day, the book we’re using as a basis for our current message series. As I read the chapter for this week, I was struck by the author’s words and found myself looking into a mirror, figuratively speaking. I’m often happy with my actions, and I’m often horrified by my reactions, especially since the latter reveals more about who I really am. How do I know that’s true? Jesus said as much:
 
43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. – Luke 6:43-45
 
I hate to admit it (in fact, it hurts me to admit it), but there’s often little difference between professing, or even actual Christians on the one hand, and people who don’t follow Jesus on the other. And what hurts me the most to admit is that I’m part of the problem.
 
As one of my closest friends says it, “I want to be a Christian on the inside.” He knows how easy it is for us to pretend outwardly, to be hypocrites, while something entirely different is going on inside of us. He wants to be the same, inside and out, and live as a genuine, obedient Christ follower in every aspect of his life. So do I.
 
Have you ever eaten a bunch of garlic, and no matter what you did, you could tell by other people’s reactions that you still reeked of the stuff? A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to travel with some good friends to Seattle for a couple of Mariners games. A huge highlight of the trip (for me at least) was eating an order of their popular garlic fries, loaded with lots and lots of chopped garlic cloves. The fries were absolutely delicious and enhanced what was already a magical experience at the ballpark.
 
If you’ve ever eaten a large amount of garlic, you know what happens for quite a while after you eat it. You smell very strongly of the stuff and there’s not much you can do about it. You can brush your teeth, scrub your tongue with a paper towel, chew gum, eat breath mints, and wipe the gum or mint juice all over your face, but the smell will likely stay with you until at least the following day.
 
A few of us on that Seattle trip had eaten garlic fries and then drove back to Spokane the next day. The day after that (now two days removed from the garlic fry consumption), the wife of the guy who drove our group to Seattle and back got into her car and said, “this thing reeks of garlic!” The issue with garlic is that the odor doesn’t just come from your mouth, it’s actually expunged through your pores as you sweat, as well as through your mouth. In other words, you can’t really contain the smell no matter what you try.
 
To circle back on what Jesus said, maybe the garlic is the bad fruit from the bad tree, but what if we eat something that creates a much more pleasant aroma? Might that be the good fruit from the good tree? I want to be the good man who brings good things out of the good stored up in my heart. That means my heart needs to be right, and God can change my heart and make me a Christian on the inside. Then it will be a good thing when my reactions reveal who I really am.
 
Troy Burns