No Kerfuffle
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (Romans 12:1, ESV)
What a great word! I am not going to give you a definition but see if you can figure out what it means. You see, there was this Canadian goose that wanted to cross a busy four-lane highway. The silly goose just kept looking ahead, neither to the left nor right, and stepped onto the road. Cars slowed but there were no brakes that squealed. The goose got across the first two lanes and the cars slowly moved forward. The drivers of the oncoming traffic slowed as well. There was no kerfuffle, no fender benders and the goose kept walking straight ahead. When the goose got to the other side, it was met with honking and flapping feathers. Perhaps a relative?
What life lesson could we possibly learn from a determined goose? It would have been easy for this life to end quickly and painfully. Instead, this goose focused and stepped out with a determined desire to get to the other side.
There might be two lessons to learn from this. The first might be the level of determination that moved this creature through some dangerous obstacles. Are we fixated on living a Christ like life? Do we want it so badly that we will do whatever might be necessary to make God smile?
The world tells us that Christian living is not cool! We are ridiculed, mocked and even tortured in various countries because we show love and tell others about Jesus. Yet, hopefully we continue on driven by what we know is the Truth.
The other lesson, a deeper question…are we the dangerous obstacles? Do we get in the way or become spiritual roadblocks for those who are all in for Jesus? Do we make fun of them, make life a little harder for them or even avoid them because of their overzealous behaviors? We might even ignore them because they speak so openly and loudly; and they’re what we would call embarrassing.
Given the right time and place, a kerfuffle might be just what is needed to wake up the sleeping Christians and motivate them to cross the street—regardless!
Heavenly Father, please never let me be embarrassed to stand up for You and make a fuss or commotion for Your Name. AMEN.