I'm with the band - 10/2/08

I’m with the band – Devotion for 10/2/08

Back when I was in high school, I was in a bad (very bad) rock band named “Dead End.” We came up with that name because it was the only street sign we could “borrow.” In reality, we wanted to be called “Handicapped Parking,” and we thought it would be cool to wheel out the drummer in a wheel chair, but we were not able to “borrow” one of those. Anyway, in this so-called-band, we had one dude that started “playing” with us. Supposedly he played keyboards, but I could never hear him play, and I could never actually tell that he was doing much of anything. However, this particular fellow had no problems telling all kinds of people that he was a part of the band. I know how annoyed it would make me feel to hear him talking about the contributions that he made to the band and our songs, and yet I would be amazed because I truly didn’t even know what he brought to the group. In other words, he said he was something, but to me he was nothing.

You probably know people like that. Maybe you were a part of a group assignment at school, and though the whole group got the same grade, you knew that only 1 or 2 people actually did all the work. Maybe you were a part of a team, and yet you knew that there were a few people who said they were a part of that team, but you knew they were really not bringing anything to the table. Good thing we don’t have people like that in the church!

This morning I read from Matthew 21:28-32, and in this passage Jesus tells a parable about a father who had 2 sons, and he asked both of them to go out and work in the vineyard. The first one said, “Um, no thanks,” however, he eventually did do as he had been asked. The second one said, “Sure thing, Pops,” however, he never found his way to the vineyard. Jesus then asks the question, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” The answer was as obvious to them as it is to us: the first one. Even though the first one may have resisted at first, he eventually did the right thing. The second one said the right thing, but ended up doing the wrong thing.

Just like the guy who said he was in the band and yet he actually did nothing, sometimes people may say they are followers of Christ, but instead follow the devices and desires of their own hearts. Today, instead of us just saying that we are followers, let us actually bring something to “the band.”