The Code of the Shoe

A friend and I were discussing another person which we should not have been doing anyway. This person we were dissecting constantly lets others know what a great Christian she is and how she regrets the actions, thoughts and beings of others. Of course if she were forced to walk in their shoes that might mitigate her criticisms a bit! I try to live by the "code of the shoe" as I call it. If I haven't had a child then I'd better not talk about the pain of childbirth, etc. It took the loss of a child for me to fully understand how much we do not understand others until it happens to us. How easy it was to drop the platitudes at the funeral home to the grieving parents - until I was the grieving parent.

My friend stressed that our mutual target was not a Christian at all in the sense of what is the core of Christianity, and that is Christ Himself. Going to church does not a Christian make! The last activity we see Christ involved in is giving His life for us so that we might have life more abundantly. He was not concerned about the dimwits or halfwits or nitwits, which includes just about all of us. He simply loved us enough to help us to help ourselves. We do that by reading and living the Word.

Hugh Elmer Brown gives a wondrous description of Christianity:

*Christianity is not the religion of sorrow and gloom; it is the religion of the morning, and it carries in its heart the happiness of heaven.
*Christianity is not a restraint but an inspiration; not a weight but wings; not subtraction but addition.
*Christianity brings bloom for faded hearts, rejuvenation for the prematurely old, imagination for the dry, literal mind.
*Christianity is not a kill-joy at the feast of life, nor a kind of incarnate "don't"; it bristles with great affirmatives, fires the soul with permanent enthusiasms and durable loyalties.
*Christianity leaves a trail of light wherever it goes; it can keep you cool under any confusion, bring you up smiling from any deeps, and utterly banish your fret and worry.
*Christianity brings zest and sparkle to life; it is sunshine on the flowers, rather than moonshine on the snow; it is life more abundant; it is leaving the little narrow life behind and leaving it forever.

Yes, dear Friends - Christianity makes us better persons and, even more important, helps us to see the best in others.