Tinted Moisturizer and Mascara

Despite what you may have thought when you read the title, this is not a post about makeup. Even so, thinking about makeup helps to illustrate the point.

Makeup is a fact of life for many women. Truth be told, most women past 25 or 30 just look better with judicious use of some cosmetics. In the words of a pastor friend of ours from years gone by, a little paint never hurt an old barn!

In spite of that, the older I get, the less I want to be bothered with all that. I need it more, but I want to deal with it less. As a result, on most days, if I'm not planning to go out of the house, I don't go through the whole makeup routine. Those are pretty much tinted moisturizer and mascara days. Maybe a little lip gloss. But not much more. Just enough to get by. Just enough not to scare anybody!

Just enough to get by. There's a lot of that going around. Most days, I have just enough cosmetic products on my face to get by. I hear teachers complaining about students who are capable of so much, but do just enough to get by. In the workplace, many are doing just enough to get by without losing their jobs.  

And, sadly, many who call themselves Christian are doing just enough to get by. Certainly becoming a Christian is not about what we do. The Scripture tells us that we must "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 16:31). That's it. It's not about what we do, but about what Jesus has done that is the issue in salvation.

But what about living out our salvation? What about living the Christ-life?  

Spend some time in the New Testament book of Acts. That book has a lot to say that can help us understand how we are to live the Christ-life as we draw nearer and nearer to the return of Christ to this earth. How do we live the Christ-life in a culture that rejects Him? How do we live the Christ-life in this 11th hour?  

The early church, as described in Acts 2:42-47, has much to teach us about how we should be living in these days. This group of believers was not satisfied to just get by, and that makes them very different from many believers today, certainly here in the United States.

If you think about it, we here in the United States have much in common with the early church. We are in the minority in our culture, as were they. The early church faced persecution because of their faith, and more and more we are seeing that in our culture as well, as the Christian faith is ever more marginalized in our society. The early church believed that Jesus would return to earth very soon, within their lifetime. While many years have passed since Jesus left this earth and we don't know exactly when He will return, we do know with certainty that He will return because that is what He said He would do. And we also know with certainty that we are closer now than we have ever been to that time. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed."  Romans 13:11b NASB).

That's what we have in common with the early church. Sadly, for many modern-day Christians, that's where the similarities end and the tinted moisturizer and mascara comparisons begin. The early Christians were much more than just enough to get by church members.

Here's what we know about them: "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42 NASB)

Continually. Devoting. Those are very descriptive words. They describe a lifestyle, not an every now and then, just enough to get by, attitude. These early believers were devoted to the apostles' teaching.  They listened. They learned. They applied. And what were the apostles teaching? They were teaching what Jesus had taught them! So to bring this into the 21st century, what should we who call ourselves Christian be doing? We should be, as they were, devoted to, as a habit of life, the study of the Scriptures! Not just to occasionally reading some Scripture. Not to occasionally, when it's convenient and it's not raining and there's no ball game that has our attention, showing up for Bible study and worship on Sunday morning. But as a habit of life, if we are following their example, we should be devoted to the study of the Scripture.

They were continually devoting themselves to fellowship and the breaking of bread and to prayer. In other words, they were doing life together. As a habit of life, they were spending time together. Eating meals together. Celebrating what we now refer to as the Lord's Supper. Together. Praying. Together. They routinely spent time together doing these things. As a habit of life. Not just enough to get by. Not just enough that their name wasn't removed from the class roll. Not just occasionally. Not just when it was convenient and they didn't have anything better to do. This was the better!

That's the model we have from the early church of how to "do" church. How to live as a believer in the 11th hour. (Remember that they thought they were in the 11th hour, too!) This is the model the Scripture gives us of believers living in community with one another.  

The Gaithers wrote a song some years ago titled The Church Triumphant. The song begins with this line: Let the church be the church.

These early believers in Acts 2 show us how the church is to be the church. They show us what it means to be a community of believers. Not just tinted moisturizer and mascara believers, but believers who, as a habit of life, live as a community.

This is not to say that they lived out in some holy huddle, or commune, on the side of a hill somewhere singing Kum Ba Yah all day. Not at all. They still had life to live and families to raise.  They had to make a living and go fishing for the day's meal. But through all that, they lived in community with one another. They did life together. They spent time together. They studied together. They fellowshipped together. They prayed together.

Continually devoting themselves to. As a habit of life. As a priority of life.

"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."  (Acts 2:42 NASB, emphasis mine)

They were not tinted moisturizer and mascara believers. Neither should we be!

What was the result of that kind devotion?  

"Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place."  (Acts 2:43 NASB)

"And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."
(Acts 2:47b NASB)

If we're missing the sense of awe, perhaps it's because we're also missing that kind of devotion.

That's really the question for us as believers here in 21st century America, isn't it?  What are we devoted to?

How would you describe yourself? What would those who know you best say about you? What about those who just see you occasionally? Are you known more as a continually devoted kind of believer? Or are you better described as tinted moisturizer and mascara?

Something to think about.