It’s here! Autumn is in full bloom, and I am in my happy place. The porch is adorned with corn stalks and mums, and I even bought pumpkin spice creamer. The temperatures are cooler, lending themselves to family time around the fire pit.
The tell-tale sign of autumn is the brilliant change of leaves from green to red, orange, and brilliant yellow. I look forward to this time of year with such anticipation. It stirs a deep joy inside me as I have a front-row seat to God’s majestic artwork. And while I love jumping in piles of leaves, I dread when the brilliant colors fall to the ground.
Most of you probably know this, but here is a quick science lesson. Green is not the true color of most leaves. Trees actually show their true colors in autumn due to changes in temperature and shorter days. There are four primary pigments that produce color within a leaf – chlorophyll produces green leaves. During warmer weather, leaves produce chlorophyll to help the plants create energy from light. The green pigment dominates, and masks the other three pigments – yellow, orange and reds/purples.
As days get shorter, trees prepare for winter by blocking off flow to and from a leaf’s stem; stopping the green chlorophyll from being replenished. This fading green allows the leaf’s true colors to emerge. Those beautiful hues that take our breath away as we travel down country roads and watch mountains and ridges burst forth with color. True color.
How often do we hide our true colors as Christians behind the green of what is expected and accepted by the world? How many churches ignore social issues or involvement in government because it may make someone uncomfortable? How many pastors are more concerned with filling seats and church bank accounts than with preaching the Word of God? How many Christians don’t speak up because they don’t want to be labeled intolerant or worse?
Do your true colors only come out under the right conditions? In a group of Christian friends? With friends who respect your faith but don’t share it? There is comfort in the safe circle of those who believe as we do. But Jesus hasn’t called us to save believers. As sinners, we are called to be an example and a light to those who don’t yet have the life-giving breath of Jesus in their lungs. While we hold our tongue, others struggle to come up for air in a world filled with ignorance and evil.
It isn’t easy to speak up. It isn’t easy to take a stand for Jesus and the Bible in a world that judges everyone and everything. But Jesus didn’t promise us easy. He promised us peace in the midst of a broken world. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Jesus was preparing His disciples for when He would no longer be with them. He knew they would be ridiculed, persecuted, even killed for their belief in Him. But His message was clear, they were on the winning team. And in the end, they would overcome because Jesus overcame the world. For them. For you. For me.
The more I grow in my faith and the deeper I fall in love with Jesus, the more courageous I am in showing my true colors. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in blessings. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in God’s hand. I don’t believe in going along with a broken world so that I don’t make someone uncomfortable. Hell is a lot more uncomfortable. And I don’t want to miss an opportunity to plant a seed, water a thought, or hold someone’s hand as they accept Jesus because I lack courage to speak the only truth that matters.
I’ve heard the phrase, “I don’t want to force my faith on someone” so many times; I’ve used it myself. Well, I have news for you, Jesus not only wants you to force your faith on someone else, He expects you to. But I’m not talking about “force” in the sense of coercion or compulsion. I’m speaking of force in the first definition for the word you will find in the dictionary: strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement: “he was thrown backward by the force of the explosion”
I want my faith to be so evident, so apparent, so obvious, that it is a force for positive change in the lives of those around me. I want it to be contagious. I want people to ask me, “Why are you so sure everything will be okay?” “How can you be so happy?” So, I can tell them, “Jesus.”
I’m working hard to live my true colors every day. It isn’t always easy and there are times when I am nervous or scared speaking the truth. But I no longer want to hide in the safety and protection of the green. I want my reds, yellows, and purples to burst forth! I want to be a true Christian every day, every season, in every situation. If we speak with the love of Jesus, rather than the judgement of the enemy, we can color a world with a beautiful stroke of heaven.
I encourage you this week to be brave. Don’t hide your true colors or the truth of Jesus under a cloak of intimidation or fear. Jesus has overcome! Peace to you.
Amen!!